The Tug of War Over ''Nya Sverige'' 1938

THE TOG OF WAR OVER "NYA SVERIGE'' 1938
MAX
ENGMA
N
During the celebration of the tercentenary of the founding of "Nya Sverige" (New Sweden) in 1938, the Swedish and Finnish delegations arrived early in July in Washington after ceremonies held in Dela­ware,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The Federal Tercentenary Committee appointed by President Roosevelt gave a luncheon at which were exchanged, according to Svenska Dagbladet, "quite remarkable speeches" between the leaders of the two delegations, Foreign Minister Rudolf Holsti and Sigfrid Edström, President of ASEA. After Holsti had thanked their hosts, especially President Roosevelt, for the courtesies shown Finland at the unveiling in Chester of the monument to the Finnish colonists and also Prince Bertil for his participation in the ceremonies,
he extended warm thanks to the Swedish delegation and noted among other things that there had been no rivalry, only agreeable cooperation. Edstrom replied immediately, saying in turn that the Finns had given us strength now as in colonial times three hundred years ago. Thereupon the two leaders shook hands before all present in a spontaneous, cordial, and firm gesture.1
In Dagens Nyheter Editor-in-Chief Dahlgren, himself a member of the Swedish delegation, commented on the event in the same spirit:
The happily worded and enthusiastically stated remark left a strong and surprising impression, and there is every reason to believe what Mr. Holsti himself assured me, that it arose altogether spontaneously out of his sauna-pure Finnish heart.2
Generous words expressing Nordic cooperation and a brotherly feeling that the two sides together represented the Swedish kingdom that founded Nya Sverige in 1638? Actually it had to do with what the people in America who preceded Nya Sverige would call "burying the axe" and "smoking a pipe of peace." That is to say, the transoceanic chieftains of the palefaces brought to an end at the Shoreham Hotel a feud that had raged in public as well as behind the scenes for two years on two continents about who really had the right to celebrate the three-hundredth anniversary and in what manner it should be celebrated.
The antagonism had its source in basically different perspectives on the Swedish kingdom that had been dissolved in 1809. In Sweden people were unhesitatingly disposed to see unbroken national continuity through to modern times, even though it might be argued that the Sweden of the Bernadottes after 1809 was as much a new creation as was the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland. Moreover, after independence in 1917 the young republic of Finland was hypersensi­tive
in its relations with Sweden and what were regarded as Swedish high-handedness and Swedish interference in Finland's internal affairs. This sensitivity was to be seen in the polemics, for example, over the language issue, the detention of Paavo Nurmi, and the Åland question. From the historical point of view it was particularly a question of the extent to which Finland had been a distinct part of the old kingdom and whether the Finns had been subjugated. On the answers to such questions also depended the extent to which claims might also be made to the common traditions and history of the kingdom. Opinion was divided in Finland itself in these matters, as had become apparent in connection with the Gustav Adolf jubilee in 1932 when different groups took off from the battle of Lützen and, drawing on history and historical symbols, argued variously for minority rights, language consolidation and Nordic cooperation, fascistized nationalism, and pacifism.3
The tercentenary of the Nya Sverige colony roiled ancient waters in the history of the old Swedish kingdom, particularly as to what extent the various regions of the kingdom and various folk groups had participated in the founding of the colony. Sweden could lay claim to its past as a great power and to its colonial enterprises; the question was what part Finland had played in them. There was, however, only minimal interest taken in seeking the historic truth as such, for other considerations asserted themselves. Both government and business were openly desirous of making themselves known in the United States; their primary concern was to call attention to the part played by one's country in the creation of the American tradition. For Swedish Americans and Finnish Americans also it was of the utmost importance to emphasize that their history extended back to Nya Sverige and the founding of the first colonies; their contribution to the founding of the United States was to be distin-guished from that of latecomers. Nya Sverige thus became primarily a symbol, a prototypical example of an invented tradition.4
Earlier Celebrations
The Swedes for their part assumed in the mid-1930s that the celebration was clearly to be regarded as Swedish, a matter of interest to Swedish Americans and to Sweden. That stance was, however, relatively new; Sweden had not taken note officially of earlier celebrations. The Historical Society in Delaware (founded 1864) celebrated in 1874 the 175th anniversary of the dedication of the Church of the Holy Trinity, "Old Swedes' Church," in Wilmington. At that time a statement was issued which was submitted by Senator T. F. Bayard on behalf of the society to the Swedish-Norwegian embassy for further transmittal to the Swedish king. The statement made reference to the ancient connection between Delaware and Sweden, the contributions of early Swedish colonists to civic and religious freedom, as well as their peaceful relations with the Indians. The society had in addition appointed a committee that had prepared a proposal for a monument to be raised at "The Rocks," the place where the Swedes had come ashore. The Swedish embassy, which at that time happened to be headed by a Norwegian, was of the opinion that the mother country hardly had any interest in "erecting monuments at places where its colonials had settled in remote times and in remote lands." The Swedish foreign ministry adopted the same negative view. On Swedish-American initiative, a memorial tablet was erected at the place in 1903.5
Nor had Sweden participated in the Nya Sverige celebration in 1888 when great crowds assembled under the auspices of Swedish-American organizations for festivities in Minneapolis. In Sweden emigration was still regarded negatively, a bloodletting of the nation, whereas Swedish Americans, at a time when hostility toward immigrants had sharpened, made use of the celebration to point out that Swedes were one of the colonial peoples of America. The intention also was to award the Swedes their deserved place in United States history and to establish unbroken historical continuity by representing Swedish immigration of the nineteenth century as a continuation of colonial enterprise during the seventeenth century.
At the celebration, which brought together previously antagonistic groups among the Swedish Americans, the virtues of the early Swedish colonists were especially emphasized: their strong commit-ment to religion and to personal and political freedom. These virtues were represented as being typical also of Swedish immigrants 250 years later, thereby linking "the Swedish-American people" with the colonists. The latter thus served as a means of creating a Swedish-American ethnic identity and of projecting a positive picture of their particular group to the population as a whole.6
The Nya Sverige celebration of 1888 opened the way for a long series of historical festivities, such as the erection of a statue to Linnaeus in Chicago in 1891, the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Augustana Synod in 1910, and the unveiling of a monument to John Ericsson in Washington in 1926. Even though Sweden had not taken note officially of the celebration in 1888, attitudes toward Swedish America were beginning to shift as emigration declined, as became apparent, for example, in the official visit of Archbishop Nathan Söderblom in 1923 and of the crown prince and princess in 19267
Swedish Preparations
Swedish preparations for the celebration, the Swedes later maintained, had been initiated as early as 1926 with the foundation of the American Sons and Daughters of Sweden and the John Morton Memorial Museum, later called the Swedish American Historical Museum. The preparations, however, did not make headway until the 1930s and then were plainly under the direction of representatives from Sweden, even though they preferred to remain in the back­ground.
In January 1935 the Sweden-America Foundation and its chairman Sigfrid Edström proposed to the foreign ministry that the celebration should be observed in a worthy manner, and that this would require a definite organization and official cooperation, for which reasons a committee should be established. In his report on the proposal the Swedish ambassador in Washington, Wollmar Boström, concurred and added that he had prevailed upon Swedish organizations in America to arrange for a meeting where it had been determined to set up committees to prepare for the celebration. The chairman of the general committee was Francis T. Plym of Michigan and Colonel Oscar Solbert for the executive committee. The historian Amandus Johnson was given important duties as secretary. The organization was to be known as the Swedish-American Tercentenary Association and was legally registered in the summer of 1936.8 In a personal letter to Foreign Minister Sandler, Bostrom suggest­ed
that a collection be made in Sweden for a gift to the museum from the nation, such as a statue or bust of Gustav II Adolf, and that a publication be prepared to call attention to the significance of the first colonists and of the later contribution of the immigrants to the development of America. Bostrom played an important role in the background not only with respect to mobilizing Swedish-American support of the celebration but also in publishing an essay in which he set forth his views of the event. He made reference to the celebration in Massachusetts in 1920 of the tercentenary of the arrival of the Pilgrims, the tercentenary in Maryland in 1934 of the arrival of the English Catholics, and to the forthcoming celebration by Harvard in 1936 of its founding. In Boström's view the Nya Sverige celebration was part of this series. Just as the English had laid the foundations for European civilization in New England, Maryland, and Virginia, and the Dutch in the Hudson River Valley, so had the Swedes in the Delaware River Valley in an area that included portions of the later states of New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Bostrom yoked early and late emigration with the fatherland:
Thus Sweden was a founder of one of the thirteen states and made permanent settlements in three others so that together with England and the Netherlands she became one of the three European mother countries of the great American union . . . Together we shall then celebrate three hundred years of Swedish achievements on American soil... The new stock can join hands with the old and the proud mother country is prepared to do its share.9
The Official Invitation
The position taken within the foreign ministry was that a prerequisite for official Swedish participation would be that "the celebration must receive official American sanction and that an invitation bearing some form of official seal be transmitted to Sweden;" the crown prince was of the same opinion and declared himself prepared under this condition to act as sponsor for a Swedish committee.10 With the support of Steinhardt, the American ambassa­dor
in Stockholm, Bostrom worked energetically to secure an invitation. He called upon the State Department, which was favorably disposed but preferred out of consideration for Congress that the initiative come from Capitol Hill. Boström therefore directed his next efforts toward having the Swedish-American committee urge leading senators and representatives from Pennsylvania and Delaware to sponsor a directive from Congress to the State Department to issue an official invitation. Boström invited the senators and representatives to dinner in February 1936 and could proudly report their enthusias­tic
support for two draft resolutions to go before Congress, one concerning an official invitation to Sweden, the other concerning the minting of a medal for the celebration: "I am attempting privately to hurry along the acceptance of these drafts so that the official invitation may soon make its appearance."11
The draft resolution, which was presented in February 1936, referred to preparations being made in Delaware, which in March 1935 had adopted a resolution and appointed a committee, and in Pennsylvania, where historical associations had formed a committee to make preparations for the celebration. The resolution intended that the president authorize his proxies to issue an invitation to the Swedish government and join the administration of the United States and its people in participating in "a fitting and appropriate obser­vance
of the three-hundredth anniversary of the first permanent settlement of Swedish colonists in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey." It was further proposed that a "United States Delaware Valley Tercentenary Commission" be formed consisting of five members designated by the president, five by the Senate, and five by the House of Representatives. The resolution was adopted in June 1936, and the official invitation was extended in July to the Swedish foreign minister, who could report in September that his government had accepted it.12
Even though the invitation was delayed, Boström had recommend­ed
early on that a Swedish committee be set up to make preparations for participating in the celebration. It was decided in Stockholm to delay the appointment of an official committee until the invitation was in hand but nevertheless to assign some persons to deal with the question. Two conferences also were held in May 1936 under the leadership of the foreign minister and Undersecretary Günther to discuss the proposals that had been made.13 Most of them were accepted in principle, but one was quickly rejected. The Swedish Americans wanted a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel to be built for a voyage across the Atlantic. On this point, however, a negative view had been taken at the preliminary negotiations in Stockholm: It was stated that if in response to an official invitation Sweden were to participate in the celebration, concerning which no conflicting views ought to be held, the participation ought to concentrate on representing what Sweden is today, and efforts to that end must not be divided over a picturesque notion of particularly dubious value. In this connection it was recalled that the Norwegian viking ships, the Spanish and French galleons that had been reconstructed at great cost and had been sent to America at various times of celebration, had had little significance and had been quickly forgotten.14
When the invitation arrived, the matter moved quickly forward. It was decided to appoint a large committee and a smaller working group. In early September the establishment of a 33-member Bestyrelsen för firandet av Nya Sverige-minnet (Steering Committee for the Commemoration of Nya Sverige) was announced with Edstrom as chairman. Included were five members of parliament, a number of major officials, the chancellors of the national universities (among them the three historians Sven Tunberg, Curt Weibull, and Martin Nilsson), the national archivist, the national librarian, and the national antiquarian. In addition to the chairman, business was represented by the Swedish-American Line's executive director A. Jonsson, directors H. Nilsson (Svenska Cellulosaföreningen), A. R. Nordvall, A. Rinman, J. Wallenberg, and A. Wenner-Gren. The Steering Committee held its first meeting 16 September at which time the foreign minister, Undersecretary Günther, Ambassador Bostrom, and Dr. Amandus Johnson were present. Count Folke Bernadotte was named vice-chairman, and to the working group were appointed in addition to the chairman and vice-chairman Foreign Secretary Fritz Henriksson and Consul General O. Lamm (Foreign Ministry, general secretary), directors Jonsson, Nordvall, Wallenberg (treasurer), and Wenner-Gren as well as Mrs. Maja Sandler. After intensive preparations the Steering Committee was prepared in December to turn to the government with a plan and a budget request amounting in all to 365,000 kronor.
By and large the formation of the Steering Committee received good press; several papers voiced their annoyance, however, that the name of the organization began unpatriotically with a Danicism.16 Several papers also looked beyond the cultural objectives that had been advanced. Aftonbladet observed that the celebration could augment knowledge of Sweden in the United States "and what this in turn could signify for Swedish industry and Swedish business need hardly be said." Dagens Nyheter emphasized the same aspects:
Evidently Sweden has not had in three hundred years such an unusual opportunity to make conquests on American soil, to consolidate the "goodwill" that we have recently gained within influential and enterprising circles—and from this point of view the celebration in Delaware is as though made to order. It will be not merely a local event or something of genealogical interest to Swedish descendants, but to all of America—publ­icity
of sweeping significance.17
The National Monument
The question of a monument appeared from the beginning to be the most vexing one in the Steering Committee's plans. Ambassador Boström clung to his suggestion of a statue of Gustav II Adolf and noted that Carl Milles had been commissioned several years earlier by the John Morton Memorial Museum to prepare a sketch for such a monument. Colonel Solbert pointed out, however, that a statue of the great king "has its drawbacks."18
At the Steering Committee's first meeting Dr. Johnson spelled out what the matter signified by saying that it was desirable to erect a statue but wondered whether it was suitable to have it portray Gustav II Adolf inasmuch as Catholics, who made up a third of Philadelphia's population, would possibly oppose erecting a statue in honor of the foremost champion of Lutheranism. Boström felt that they should not exaggerate the risk of mischievous damage. In reply to a question, Dr. Johnson noted that the statue would not be the first of a royal personage erected in the United States, but this precedent would scarcely lend comfort to the doubtful since the predecessor was a statue of Frederick the Great that had stood in Washington until the entrance of the United States in the world war. The matter was not made any simpler when it turned out that Milles' sketch represented the king in a kneeling position. An equestrian statue would more suitably represent "the king as the ruler who founded the colony of Nya Sverige." The working committee found "this point of view deserving of consideration," but decided later that "above all the statue should not assume a religious character that would encourage demonstrations from the Catholic faction."19
Faced with these difficulties the committee began to cast about for other alternatives, for example a neutral granite obelisk with reliefs or a "viking bautasten" (menhir). Whereas the proposed statue of the heroic king would have been located in Philadelphia, the intention was to erect the obelisk or bautasten at the place where the Swedes came ashore, as had already been suggested earlier by Solbert. This location, "The Rocks" in Wilmington, already had a memorial but was industrialized, and to a visiting Swedish journalist it had appeared in 1936 to be "a particularly unkempt place." For all that, Bostrom began to press for the existing plans for a New Sweden Memorial Park.20
The question of what form the monument should take was, however, still undecided. The American committee reported that it preferred an obelisk or bautasten whereas Milles regarded an obelisk as old-fashioned and scarcely Swedish and instead proposed the vessel Kalmar Nyckel carved out of a block of black granite and placed on a base of the same material. Further investigation revealed, however, that the proposal was technically not possible since a block of the proposed size was not to be found nor could it have been transported. When the earlier suggestions were once again reviewed and other artists contacted, Milles came forward with yet another suggestion, a round column of granite from Bohuslän with a ship on top. When Bostrom then announced that the proposed area would be placed at their disposal, a decision could be made in the beginning of 1937 concerning this monument.21
Before that point was reached, however, a number of suggestions had been advanced, many of them publicly since Stockholms-Tidningen had announced a contest in November 1936. The contest elicited a number of suggestions that revealed a broadly ecumenical Swedish taste and with elements from various times; the suggestions included, for example, a statue of a Swedish pioneer in the company of an Indian, a viking in granite, scholarships for language study, a Swedish farmstead, and "a column in Swedish granite with Greta Garbo in relief as Mother Svea."22
The intention was that the monument would be a gift from the Swedish people, and the Steering Committee set in motion prepara­tions
for a national collection. It was determined to arrange for col­lections
in the provinces with the governors heading the local committees. Prime Minister Hansson accepted the post of chairman for the collection committee whereupon the governor general and provincial governors were assembled for a conference in Stockholm. At that time a clear majority of the provincial governors spoke against the project making reference to the high cost of living, apathy with respect to such collections, and other considerations. Some stated plainly that it would be difficult to interest the general public in this memorial; Governor von Schneidern was of the opinion that "the connection between Sweden of today and the tercentenary now to be celebrated would be slight," while Governor Falck wondered if the committee ought not to investigate some means of celebrating other than to erect an obelisk in America for which it would be difficult to arouse public enthusiasm. Edström stated afterwards that "strong opposition prevailed" among the provincial governors, but with the prime minister's backing the plan was approved. After Prince Wilhelm as well as the crown prince participated in drawing up an appeal, it was inaugurated with the crown prince as the first signer, followed by ministers of the government, the foreign ministry, and the social ministry as well as all the provincial governors; the collection was initiated by Prime Minister Hansson in a speech given on the radio.23
Remaining Plans
At an early stage the wish had been expressed on the part of Swedish Americans as well as the participating states that the crown prince and crown princess take part in the celebration. So that the representatives of the royal house might arrive in befitting style it was determined that they should travel on the Swedish-American Line and at the mouth of the Delaware River embark upon a Swedish warship that would then sail up the river to Wilmington.24
As early as the summer of 1936 additional strategies were being planned. In June Colonel Solbert proposed that a coin be minted for the occasion, for example, a coin worth three kronor (300 öre for 300 years); the proposal was altered later to four kronor (one daler). What was unusual in this proposal arises from the fact that coins of this sort had been minted only a few times before: in honor of Gustav Vasa, 1721,1821, and 1921; in honor of Gustav II Adolf, 1932; and to honor the parliament, 1936. The mint had misgivings and instead suggested two kronor (a half riksdaler), whereas the National Bank regarded the shortage of small coins to be so severe that the produc­tivity
of the mint ought not to be diverted to other purposes. The Steering Committee also took up at an early stage the possibility of a postage stamp, later expanded to a whole series with themes taken from the history of Nya Sverige.25
As early as the preparatory meetings held in May 1936, it had beers proposed that a brochure be published to shed light on Swedish contributions to the United States as well as a series of short monographs on Sweden's cultural and economic life, in addition to lecture tours by Swedish scientists in the United States. At an early stage thought was also given to exhibitions in the United States; during the autumn of 1936 a proposal was crystallized regarding two such: an art exhibit and an historical exhibit on Nya Sverige and Swedish contributions to the United States.26 Other suggestions that were put forward during the autumn were to purchase the Swedish church in Wilmington and donate it to the Augustana Synod; an "all-Swedish" travel group to make the journey from Sweden to the United States during the celebration; and the encouragement of correspondence between Swedish and American schoolchildren. Riksföreningen för svenskhetens bevarande i utlandet (The National Society for the Preservation of Swedish Culture in Foreign Lands) also drew up certain measures apropos of the celebration, including "campaigning among the Swedes in America" to strengthen Swedish culture in America and the ties between Swedish-American organiza­tions
and Sweden itself.27
Interest arose in America, too, in strengthening contacts with Sweden in connection with the celebration. Governor George H. Earle of Pennsylvania planned to issue a proclamation and wanted to set up a monument in Göteborg marking the departure of the first Swedish ships. Sweden was visited also during the summer of 1936 by Ormond Rambo, a descendant of the first colonists, who made plans for a voyage to Sweden by descendants of the Swedish colonists.28
Enter Finland
By February 1937 the Swedish preparations were moving along well. They were indeed almost overly organized as plans advanced at a quick pace in both the public and private sectors. In the United States a number of Swedish-American committees were at work; a national collection was in progress in Sweden. The tercentenary of Nya Sverige was on the way to becoming a vigorous Swedish presentation of modern Sweden in the United States and of the his­tory
of the country as well as its early contributions to America, thereby lending powerful support to Swedish-American aspirations. In the beginning of March 1937 the foreign ministry, however, re­ceived
a disquieting telegram from Ambassador Boström in Washing-ton reporting that there was some risk that the invitation
might be extended to include Finland as well. I have privately attempted to bring a halt to this in the relevant committees since the colony was founded exclusively under Swedish sovereignty. The question now seems to have been taken up once more and the State Department intends to request a statement from the American minister in Stockholm. [It is] of highest importance that this be rejected.29
The United States ambassador discussed the question in Stockholm; according to what the foreign ministry understood of the matter he had sent a negative telegram but at the same time had said that one never knew what "those politicians" might come up with. At the same time Foreign Minister Henriksson received a visit from Consul Tarjanne of the Finnish legation, who asked to be informed of Swedish preparations. He admitted freely that nothing more was known in Helsinki than that a proposal had been laid before Congress; he himself thought that at most there could be a question only of representation by means of a small group, if any participation took place at all.30
To the dynamic Boström in Washington, this looked as though an unexpected and unwelcome guest had intruded at a table already set; considering that Sweden had in fact invited itself to the party, his resentment was scarcely justified. The question of Finland's partici­pation
did not, however, come as a complete surprise. Boström had already reported in the fall about the law that Pennsylvania had passed in July 1936 on the subject of the celebration. It expressly made clear that the state was to conduct the celebration in coopera­tion
with the governments of the United States, Sweden, and Finland.31 In addition, the Steering Committee in Stockholm had received a reminder from Professor Georg von Wendt in Finland. In his book Vårt svenskfolk i Amerika (Our Swedish People in America, 1922) he had asserted that Finns had made up a large minority of the colony and that many of them had considered Swedish Österbotten to be their home. The Steering Committee was strongly opposed in principle:
Within the working group of the Steering Committee for the Celebration of Nya Sverige we have already discussed the problem of Finland but are unanimous in the belief that it must be present-day Sweden that is to be represented at the ceremonies in the Delaware River Valley, just as it was the
Sweden in existence at the time that sent forth the first colonists. Sweden at that time did not include Blekinge, Skåne, Halland, or Bohuslän, but today these provinces are important parts of Sweden, and many of the representatives who will be participating are in fact from Skåne, including the prime minister of Sweden.32
That is to say, if Per Albin Hansson could not take part, neither strictly speaking could the Bernadottes if one were to be historically correct as von Wendt's statement insinuated.
The question of Finland's participation in the celebration proceed­ed
thereafter on two levels, in part on the diplomatic one where emissaries of both countries in Washington attempted to conduct their activities out of public view, and in part in the form of pressure from Swedish and Finnish Americans on the State Department and Congress.
The problem was resolved, or so it appeared at the time, by Pennsylvania's decision to invite Finland. Frank Melvin, chairman of the state's historical commission, stated in a letter to the ambassador from Finland that he had drawn up a legislative resolution to that effect, his reasoning being that Sweden and Finland were united three hundred years earlier and that about a third of the colonists had come from Finland.33
Just like the invitation to Sweden, Pennsylvania's invitation was not as spontaneous as it first seemed. In a confidential private letter to the editor of Suomen Kuvalehti Finland's ambassador Eero Järnefelt complained that the paper on several occasions had criticized Finland's deputation in Washington for not having taken care to have Finland invited to participate in the Delaware celebration. He also related how Pennsylvania's invitation had come about. As early as May 1936 he had proposed the erection of a granite statue at the place where the Finns had landed. During the summer Finnish Americans—that is to say, a group around Pastor Salomon Ilmonen and the Finnish-American Historical Society—had decided, however, to postpone the celebration until 1941 since the first clear documen­tary
sources with respect to the Finns dated from 1641. In that same summer Swedish representatives in Congress had arranged for the invitation to Sweden. The Finns lacked representatives in Congress nor had they been invited to take part in the preparations that had been set in motion by the powerful Swedish-American organizations. On a visit to Philadelphia Järnefelt had made the acquaintance of Governor Earle and brought the part played by the Finns in the colonization into discussion, and that had then led to the invitation from Pennsylvania. The invitation had given Järnefelt the opportunity once again to address the State Department and inquire how it had come about that Congress had invited only Sweden to be represented at a celebration to which Finland had been invited by the State of Pennsylvania; he stated that he was not disposed to forward the invitation to his government before he could assure it that it was a question of an oversight that would be corrected. The relevant division of the State Department reported that it would look into the matter but from the start let Järnefelt understand that Congress would be requested to amend its resolution so as to empower the president to extend an invitation also to Finland. In February a motion to that effect was placed before Congress, and it was this that had provoked Boström's reaction.34
Flanking support for Finland's participation was now supplied by Finnish Americans, who were highly indignant that people in Finland either did not care or did not know about the Finnish role in Nya Sverige; according to New Yorkin Uutiset the Finns had cleared most of the land in the colony while the Swedes had assumed the role of squire.35 Under the pressure of the Swedish preparations the initiative was transferred from the group around Ilmonen to a new association of Finnish-American leaders who convened in New York and in short order were organized as the American-Finnish Delaware Tercentenary Committee. Included in it were Professor John Wuorinen (Columbia), John Saari, treasurer, and above all the highly influential Emil Hurja, a personal friend of and advisor to President Roosevelt and Postmas­ter
Farley's right-hand man in the Democratic presidential campaign of 1936. The group took as its purpose to secure an official invitation to Finland and to lend to the Finnish aspect of the celebration a distinct character to show that it had not been drowned out in the highly organized Swedish plans for the celebration. The committee received official support from Finland when its prime minister, A. K. Cajander, agreed to act as honorary chairman.36
Swedish Opposition
A prerequisite for the efforts of Finnish Americans was that the official invitation be expanded to include Finland, and for this Hurja's contacts in Congress played an important part. Afterwards Hurja pointed out that opposition did not come so much from the Swedish government as from "the misguided Jealousy of American Swedes, resentful that Finland had the temerity to ask a right to its place in the sun . . ."37 Hurja's conception of the restraint exercised by the Swedish government and its representatives was, however, correct only in part.
The first reactions in Stockholm were restrained; even while Foreign Minister Henriksson took note of the fact that the American ambassador in Stockholm opposed an invitation to Finland, he made the point that Sweden should not meddle in the matter; should serious interest to participate emerge in Finland, there was nothing to do other than welcome it. Steinhardt had also engaged in discussions with the foreign minister, who had said that from the Swedish point of view there were no impediments even if "practical and protocol difficulties" could be foreseen. This was at best a way of declining without saying no, as Steinhardt's report confirms. He considered the reply to be the government's formal position but reported that he had reason to suppose that an invitation to Finland "would produce an undertone of irritation if not open resentment as well as practical difficulties." The Swedish Delaware committee had rejected earlier the offer of assistance from Finland. The persons he had spoken with had declared that it would be just as logical to invite the Baltic states to attend since they, too, were a part of Sweden in the seventeenth century. In addition he had been given to understand that any effort to provide a place for Finnish represen­tation
would give rise to national and personal jealousy and intensify the language conflict in Finland.38 Regardless of the foreign ministry's official position Ambassador Bostrom did not suppose himself prevented from becoming engaged in intensive lobbying in company with the Swedish-American leaders.
At the end of March Bostrom submitted his report on how this troublesome situation had arisen. According to him, Järnefelt had misunderstood Pennsylvania's invitation and had applied to the wrong section in the State Department, which then, without consult­ing
other sections, had requested McReynolds, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives, to move an amendment. Bostrom was annoyed that he could not take action openly: "Now when we have such good rapport with Finland it would be most undesirable" to try to obtain the cooperation of the State Department to reject the motion. It would also be difficult for the State Department to say no to the Finnish ambassador "especially now when Finland is the fair-haired boy of the United States." Boström's reasoning was straightforward:
We were all quite upset over here for it would look exceed­ingly
strange if Finland, which was after all only a Swedish province of the same sort as Estonia and Livonia and others, were to be invited to this purely Swedish celebration of its colonial activities, which were after all undertaken entirely under Swedish sovereignty even if some from Finland may have joined in.39
The State Department for its part decided to "let sleeping dogs lie" and not do anything in behalf of the resolution that the Republican congressman Pehr G. Holmes, the only Swedish-born member of Congress and secretary of the Federal Committee on the Celebration, had succeeded in having tabled in the foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives. It would be painful to have to explain the ministry's position to Järnefelt, but in the long run that would be better than to come to blows with the Swedes. Boström consequently was hopeful: "I now believe, however, that the matter is buried in the foreign affairs committee and that the State Department, in case the Finnish ambassador should call the matter to his attention, will quite simply pass the blame on to Congress."40
The United States' Fair-Haired Boy
Boström's comment about Finland as the fair-haired boy of the United States referred to its punctual repayments of its indebtedness to the United States at a time when all other debtors had ceased payment since 1933. It is well known how this secured enormous goodwill for Finland. The matter was very much alive in the middle of the 1930s and had its effect also on the invitation to the Delaware celebration. Finland's delegation in Washington was able time and again to report on the popularity that the country enjoyed; it was especially high on 15 June and 15 December when the installments on all the billions of dollars owed by the European countries fell due. It was then that attention was directed to the fact that it was the smallest and youngest country to fulfill its obligations; thus, for example Senator Vandenberg in a speech on Finland's independence day 1935 and Congressman Knutson from Minnesota in 1937 in the Senate: "all honor to little Finland, the country poorest in resources but richest in her sacred word of honor."41 Payment of the debt made Finland popular. President Roosevelt said to the Finnish ambassador that he was proud of Finland, and in his welcome to the Finnish festivities in New York 1937 Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia extolled Paavo Nurmi and the reparation payments. Finland also placed well in a questionnaire about which countries Americans liked best of all (in fourth place after England, France, and Germany).42 When the school ship Suomen Joutsen put in at New York harbor in March 1937, newspapers carried headlines like "Debt Payer Comes." In the summer of 1939 Congressman Allen put before the Congress a proposal that a memorial plaque be set up in Washington to honor Finland.43
If the matter of an invitation to the celebration in Delaware were successful, the Swedish foreign service would have difficulties stopping "the spunky little debt payer," but it faced still another dilemma. Enthusiasm for a new guest was very slight, but inasmuch as Finland had adopted a Nordic orientation in its foreign policy that was satisfactory to Sweden though decidedly not yet stabilized, it was best to proceed carefully. This was how Hjalmar Procopé looked on the matter:
I would regard it as particularly unfortunate if it should develop that the exclusion of Finland stemmed from measures taken by Swedish Americans or if it left the overall impression that Sweden and Finland had not wanted to get together in this matter. With much satisfaction and gratitude I note therefore what you write about Ambassador Boström's position in this matter. — For my part I hoped that it could be ar­ranged.
In any case we must try to avoid any appearance that Swedes stood in the way of Finland's participation. It would have a highly adverse effect on public sentiment in Scandina­via—
never mind that the entire matter is not of any great practical significance.44
Procopé as managing director of Finska Papperbruksföreningen and earlier as foreign minister had a sense of both the significance of the celebration and the threat to Nordic cooperation, and his comments amounted to a direct warning. He was assured that Ambassador Bostrom "had nothing whatever to do" with the failure of the House of Representatives to invite Finland. Later the Swedes, in the words of Foreign Minister Henriksson, sought to assure Finland that they "had meticulously refrained from any sort of interference" in the matter. Henriksson at the same time emphasized that "regarding the celebration there must under no circumstances seem to be even a trace of any conflict of interest of any sort between Sweden and Finland."45
Lobbying
Behind the scenes the reality was another, and to top it all the home front was not as unanimous as Boström had wished. When he read in the newspapers that Nils Ahnlund had referred in a lecture to Nya Sverige as a penal colony and had cited the conspicuous part taken by Finns, the dismayed ambassador aired his frustrations in a furious letter to Foreign Minister Henriksson in Stockholm:
The former is exceedingly unsuitable just now and would unnecessarily wound Swedish Americans if it should become known here. The latter gives Finns grist for their mill in their effort to be included, as I have telegraphed and written.
I cannot understand how a man of Professor Ahnlund's position can use so little judgment as to come out just now with these dark sides of the matter when the Crown Prince, Government, Parliament and people are so warmly embracing the tercentenary and have wanted to strike a blow for Swedes in the U.S.A. Even if other nationalities took part it was entirely under Swedish sovereignty, and if there were any Finns present they were just like people from Dalecarlia and Småland, Swedish subjects. And to come out now with talk about the colony as a place for criminals is as unsuitable as it can possibly be.46
Ahnlund's lecture also aroused attention in Sweden. Edström, speaking before the Merchants Club of Stockholm, specifically argued against the professor: the colony had not been "a miserable tale," but "a great feat in Swedish history." It had left deep impressions; any part played by the Dutch or the Finns did not alter this fact. In reply, Ahnlund emphasized his obligation as an historian and insisted that he simply had defined quite objectively "the real dimensions of the colonization enterprise and its true nature regardless of the spirit that may be thought desirable in connection with the pending celebra­tion."
47
Boström
state
d frankly in May 1937 that he presumed that "it is in accord with the government's wish that without being obvious I renew efforts to hinder the matter." The reply stated only that the foreign minister had said to the American ambassador that Sweden would not be opposed. It was not until the middle of August that the foreign ministry informed its delegation in Washington in plain language not to engage in measures concerning the issue.48
Several days earlier, however, Per Wijkman, the Swedish charge d'affaires while Bostrom was on vacation, had been quite unrestrained in accosting the protocol section of the State Department. He maintained that he had done his best to persuade Swedish-American congressmen to exercise restraint in case the matter came up in the House of Representatives, but that he feared the consequences of an acrimonious debate if it should occur. It would be best therefore if the matter could be tabled during the current session of Congress. If the resolution went through, it would "bring forth protests from Swedish Americans and result in great disappointment in Sweden." In consequence the protocol section suggested that it should be confi­dentially
hinted to the chairman of the foreign affairs committee or its spokesman "that some excuse of legislative procedure be found to prevent the bill coming up at this session." The chairman of the foreign affairs committee promised to do what he could. This course of action was approved by Secretary of State Hull.49
In short, Stockholm allowed the delegation in Washington to continue its lobbying for some time; nor did the seemingly neutral position taken by the Swedish government inhibit the Swedish Americans. Solbert and Holmes called on Secretary of State Hull, but the State Department was of the opinion that it would be exceedingly difficult to stop the resolution if it were to come from the foreign affairs committee.50
Congressional Action
The motion for the resolution had passed unanimously in the Senate in April 1937.51 The foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives had rejected it in February, but it later arranged a public hearing at which Wuorinen and Saari were able to set forth their historical arguments (including the fact that a third of the colonists had been Finns). The committee later required that the states involved—Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware—request that the earlier resolution be expanded to include Finland. Two of the states assented at once; the governor of Delaware at first promised his support but retracted it later since he had promised the * celebration committee of his state not to interfere. Emil Hurja's estimation of the committee's secretary was plain: "Mr. Ward I have discovered is distinctly under the dominance of the Sweden group, he is utterly selfish and unwilling to give the Finns a 'break' in any­thing."
52
The Finnish Americans also exerted pressure on the State Department especially after it became known that the ministry was an accessory to the resolution's defeat in the foreign affairs commit­tee.
The Finnish Americans advanced the historical arguments but also pointed out that after the publicity the matter had received it would be taken as a snub to Finland and Finnish Americans if the resolution did not go through. In his demand that the resolution be tabled, it was argued, Holmes had not denied that the Delaware colony had been founded by Swedes and Finns together, but he had other motives:
His objections were based on specious reasons. He is not interested in facts and justice to Finland; he wants the whole credit and honor emanating from the colonization and celebra­tion
to go to Swedes and Sweden and our Government to ignore the Finns and Finland, the co-founders of the colony. I am sure that our Government will not be a party to any such selfish scheme.53
Hull replied that after careful consideration it had been determined that the department could not intervene in a question that fell within the purview of the Congress. At the same time, however, reports were reaching the department concerning the difficulties that the unextended invitation was giving rise to in Helsinki, where there was astonishment and hard feeling that the invitation had not been extended.54
The Finnish Americans succeeded in getting the resolution through the foreign affairs committee. In the House of Representa­tives
the committee's report was presented by Congressman Allen of Pennsylvania. The argumentation in Finland's behalf drew for its support upon Amandus Johnson's books; he was identified as one of the prime movers in the Swedish preparations for the celebration. The report underscored Finland's position as an integral part of the Swedish kingdom and noted that at least a third and probably more of the colonists were Finns.55
In the House of Representatives, where the matter was taken up during the last day of the session, the debate became at first a duel between Allen and Holmes. In addition to the historical arguments Allen
no
w also cited others:
We are extending the invitation to a nation that has been very friendly to the United States in recent years, and whose sense of honor and responsibility stands out above all others in the payment of its national debt to us. ... It is not going to detract from the glory of Sweden in any respect. It is merely extending a little recognition to Finland.56
It was difficult for Holmes to stand in opposition to this kind of argumentation. He emphasized that he had nothing against Finland, quite the contrary, but also he stressed the extensive Swedish preparations and observed that Finland three hundred years ago was a Swedish province and that colonization had occurred under Swedish sovereignty and the Swedish flag; many other nationalities besides the Finns had taken part in the expeditions—the argumenta­tion
hearkens back to that of Bostrom and Solbert. He pointed out in addition that the government of Finland had not expressed any desire to take part, but that it was "some Finnish-American people who have been very active in wanting to participate." Holmes suggested that the United States ought to honor Finland in some other fashion.57 Holmes was fighting, however, a losing battle when payment of the reparations came into the picture. Congressman Frank E. Hook, who represented an area of Michigan with many Finnish voters, stat­ed
that the Finns during all the years they were an integral part of the Swedish kingdom had retained their separate nationality and had now become a nation respected by all leading countries in the world:
There is one thing that is paramount in that country, and that is the integrity they have kept with themselves throughout their entire history, the integrity they have kept with the world, and with this country today [applause]. It is the only nation that has paid its debt to the United States [applause], and in recognition of that fact alone they should be given a right to participate in this celebration.58
The following speaker, Congressman Thomas of New Jersey, laid it on even thicker when he arose in support of the governor of his own state:
I support him because I think the people of Finland should be invited to every celebration that is held in the United States [applause]. If there is one country in the world that we should invite
t
o a celebration or that we should have a special celebration for, it Is Finland. They are an incentive to the whole world, they are an example to the whole world, and they have certainly shown us that if there is one country in this world friendly to the United States, it is Finland, by having paid its obligations to us on the day they were due, and I hope this resolution passes [applause].59
Faced with the applause and the view that Finland ought to be a permanent guest in the United States, nothing much remained for Holmes other than to yield to the pressures that the resolution should be passed unanimously.
Reactions
The outcome aroused both disappointment and bitterness within the administration of the Swedish foreign ministry and the organiza­tion
for the celebration. Frank Dearing, the new American ambassa­dor
in Stockholm, reported that Finnish participation
would cause complications, reduce Swedish participation to a merely correct and formal gesture and practically nullify our efforts to create more cordial relations and make the occasion a compliment to Sweden and to people of Swedish descent in the United States.60
He also provided a glimpse of the mood during the numerous conferences in Stockholm, which was clearly marked by plummeting enthusiasm and irresolution:
Sandler, I learn, is particularly anxious not to offend the Finnish Government and is inclined to do nothing; Boström has no solution; Edström and Lamm betray the Swedish feeling by the very firm assertion that if the Crown Prince attends the celebrations he must at all ceremonies take precautions, a presage of possible unfortunate incidents.61
In Stockholm it was plain enough who was responsible: "overzealous Americans of Finnish origin have been influencing the action of state governors who they feel have acted from local considerations and have lost sight of international aspects." Dearing thought that it was believed or hoped in Sweden that Finland would withdraw, and he suggested that Hull should have a conversation with Järnefelt to become informed about the matter and try to have Finland "perform an act of outstanding international value by leaving the celebration which is for the Swedes to the Swedes."
Before the resolution received the force of law it still had to be approved by President Roosevelt. In his letter of transmittal Hull stated that it was unfortunate that a question dealing with sensitive points involving two countries well disposed to one another should have arisen at all, but he summarized his chilly analysis for the president's secretaries:
I told Mr. McIntyre that if the resolution were vetoed by the President, the White House might expect a protest from Finnish-American groups and that if the President approved the resolution, they might expect some correspondence from Swedish-American societies. On balance, the State Department felt that since Congress had passed the resolution it would probably be better for the President to sign the resolution rather than to veto it.62
Nor did Hull suppose that anything would be won by applying pressure on Finland, as Dearing had suggested, even if one might hope that Finland would not accept the invitation. It was presented as neutrally as possible in Helsinki, or as the American ambassador reported: "I did not dwell on the degree of cordiality with which the invitation was extended but confined myself to such general ex­pressions
as were indispensable in the circumstances."63
The State Department was disposed to remain neutral in the matter, but as has been shown above, sentiment favored Sweden. Evidently it accepted the historical analysis that Bostrom had taken every occasion to present rather than that urged by the Finnish Americans. For Bostrom it seemed self-evident that Finland could not lay claim to any continuity from the old Swedish kingdom. When the intensity of the Swedish opposition persisted, Finland was regarded in the State Department as a last-minute complication in the preparations for the celebration. H. C. Cumming was of the opinion that "the Swedes have been given a raw deal" and that through its interference Congress had inflamed an unfortunate prejudice. On the other hand, Bostrom was thought to have exaggerated the adverse effect that the presence of a few Finnish official representatives might have on the preparations that the Swedes had under way.64
Cumming's criticism was occasioned by an appeal that Bostrom made to President Roosevelt and Undersecretary of State Wells. He did this contrary to his own instructions not to register any official protest and made no secret of it when he emphasized that he was speaking "off the record." He declared to the president that Swedish Americans were "very much upset":
He said that the Finnish-Americans and the Finnish colony had not contributed a cent and had not taken any part in the preparation and that there was great resentment at the possibility that the Finns would take an equal part in these festivities when they had no valid reason for doing so.65
Preparations in Finland
News of the invitation to Finland was on the whole very posi­tively
received by the Finnish press. Hufvudstadsbladet regarded it as an expression of Finland's popularity in the United States, and several papers expressed their satisfaction that Finland had been invited on an equal basis with Sweden even if there was some question as to how Finland could compete with the comprehensive Swedish preparations. The nation's gratitude should, however, be shown through suitable participation. Several papers took note also of the prestige that the invitation lent to Finland and the recognition it signified. It also signified recognition of Finnish Americans and was of profound value as publicity.66 The flattering remarks con­cerning
Finland's repayments were repeated in several papers while some regarded it still more important that Finns and Finnish Americans as a people had received recognition for having been part of building up America.67
When information of a possible invitation to Finland reached Helsinki in February 1937 the prime minister's first act was to inform himself how Sweden expected to represent itself and what steps had already been taken. At this point a fairly modest participation by Finland was evidently being considered. Edström visited Finland and spoke with former minister Antti Hackzell, who did not believe that Finland should do more perhaps than to delegate Foreign Minister Holsti.68
Finland's participation, however, became far more comprehensive than these initial suggestions envisioned. The first steps were taken as early as the beginning of 1937, that is, even before the effort to invite Finland had begun. In line with a redirection by Finland of its foreign affairs, Dr. Rafael Engelberg had laid out in January 1937 in the presence among others of Prime Minister Kyösti Kallio and the Minister of Education Antti Kukkonen a twelve-part program. One part specified that the new organization called Suomi-Seura was to prepare a plan and indicate the means for Finland's participation in the celebration in Delaware. Somewhat later, Engelberg revealed that he had gathered his information for this proposal from Sweden as well as from Swedish Americans and Finnish Americans.69
The matter did not take on an official character until after Congress's action. The government delegated to a ministerial committee in the beginning of September 1937 the task of preparing for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the republic and also of Finland's participation in the tercentenary of the Delaware colony. In the meantime Suomi-Seura continued its preparations, in­cluding
contacts with Finnish Americans, and submitted in October to the government a comprehensive program for Finland's participa­tion
in the celebration. This included the appointment of a large delegation, cooperation with Finnish Americans to undertake an investigation concerning the Finns in Delaware, possibly by Professor John Wuorinen, and a monument, possibly by Eliel Saarinen, to the Finnish pioneers who had emigrated to the colony, to be placed in the old colonial cemetery. Furthermore the tour to be undertaken in America by the student chorus Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat should be tied in with the celebration; festivities should also be arranged in the homeland, and appropriate publications should be made available. Finally, the society's officers stated that the Delaware memorial ought to be given serious attention since it was of historic importance to the nation and strengthened extremely important ties of friendship abroad.70
In November 1937 the government appointed a committee with Minister of Education Hannula as chairman and Engelberg as secretary. The Post and Telegraph Department prepared plans for a tercentenary stamp to be used for international mail; its motif was the clearing of the land of stubble. As for the monument, the intention at first was that this should be arranged by Finnish Americans, but they asked Finland to attend to it. During a visit to Finland Hurja had conferred with Wäinö Aaltonen. Because time was short there could be no thought of either a national appeal for funds or a competition, and the government decided therefore that the monu­ment
should be ordered from Aaltonen at the expense of the nation.71
In January the government appointed an official Finnish delega­tion,
which assumed a decidedly political character. It was led by Foreign Minister Holsti, and its members consisted of two Social Democrats, of whom one was the speaker in parliament Väinö Hakkila, two members of parliament from Österbotten representing the Agrarian Party, and a female member from the Coalition Party. The Swedish-speaking population was represented by the editor-in-chief of Hufvudstadsbladet, Amos Andersson, and the Church by the director of the seamen's mission, Dr. Sigfrid Sirenius. Holsti also had been Hurja's candidate (with Mannerheim as a possible substitute); Holsti accepted only reluctantly, according to his own report, but felt he had to yield since there were in the government only two ministers who spoke English and the other of them, the Minister of Finance Väinö Tanner, was needed at home to work on the budget.72
The Swedish Preparations Proceed
The Finnish plans followed by and large the Swedish ones, which were proceeding according to the directions that had taken form for the most part in the autumn of 1936. The Swedish preparations did not, however, arouse the enthusiasm that the Delaware steering committee had hoped for. This became apparent for one thing in connection with the national appeal for funds when the misgivings of the provincial governors were confirmed. During the spring the Steering Committee was obliged to acknowledge that it had indeed obtained a good many signatories on the collection lists, but insuffi­cient
funds. When this information was transmitted in strict confidentiality to the governors with an appeal that they turn to wealthy citizens and industrial enterprises, they balked. Consequent­ly,
the Steering Committee had on the one hand to approach the public with a new appeal endorsed by the prime minister, and on the other hand to invoke the .crown prince's name in approaching suitable donors. At the end the required amount was obtained, but in August 1937 funds were still lacking. Ultimately some 200,000 persons donated 226,500 kronor.73
Neither did a number of other plans go forward as expected. Sweden's Allmänna Exportförening declined to take part in the celebration, preferring instead to concentrate on the World Exposition in New York in 1939. It was also necessary to drop plans for having the crown prince and crown princess arrive aboard the aircraft carrier Gotland since there was no suitable anchorage in the vicinity of Wilmington; not to neglect military participation entirely, the Mounted Lifeguards' choral society was sent. The registration period for the all-Swedish journey had to be prolonged when it had not attracted a sufficient number of interested persons, and the correspon­dence
that was planned between schoolchildren did not progress as had been expected.74
These reverses were countered, however, by the fact that much that had been planned was realized. Milles' monument was finished on time; nine volumes were published in the series New Sweden Tercentenary Publications. Besides a facsimile edition of Johan Campanius' catechism in the Algonquin language and a handbook about Sweden, these also included brief surveys of the culture, science, and society of modern Sweden. Appointments to the Swedish delegation were intended to be "in the highest possible manner representative of Sweden today." In addition to the crown prince and his consort, Prince Bertil and his entourage, and a large number of the working group of the Steering Committee, it consisted of two councilors of state, two parliamentary speakers, the chancellor of the university, a bishop, the national antiquarian, the national librarian, two directors general, and the chief of staff of the army, as well as a chief justice, an engineer, a landowner, and a factory worker in addition to representatives of folk movements (Good Templars, Methodists), Riksföreningen för svenskhetens bevarande i utlandet, etc. Governor Printz's descendants also were represented since the Steering Committee had expended great effort to devise a genealogy of the descendants and had mustered them to a meeting through notices in the newspapers. Altogether the delegation consisted of fifty-two persons in addition to representatives of the press.75
The Celebration Gets Under Way
The celebration of Nya Sverige had been under way a half year before the actual festivities took place. The visit of Governor George Earle of Pennsylvania to Sweden may be regarded as a kind of opening shot. It had been decided in Pennsylvania to erect a monument or to set up a marker in commemoration of the departure from Göteborg of Kalmar Nyckel and Fågel Grip. The visit took place in late November and early December 1937, and Earle dedicated two markers outside the Maritime Museum in Göteborg, on which occasion he conferred upon himself the title of "successor in the office of Johan Printz." He regarded the markers as the counterpart to the Mayflower monument, "Embarcation of the Pilgrim Fathers," in Southampton. Earle also visited Bottnaryd Church where his predecessor was buried (no grave, however, could be found), and met the king, and together with the crown prince participated in one of the meetings of the Steering Committee. The Pennsylvanians decided also to conduct an educational campaign in their schools as well as to designate 8 April, the anniversary (new style) of the landing of the Swedes, as "Forefathers' Day" and a general holiday.76 "The Swedish Tercentenary Art Exhibit" was the first major event arranged by the Swedes; it opened in New York in September 1937 and was displayed at various places in the United States up until July 1938.77 Finland for its part inaugurated the jubilee with the tour of the student chorus Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat in the United States. When the chorus arrived in Washington, it was greeted by a number of senators and congressmen from states with significant Finnish populations; their speeches emphasized the payment of the debts and the part played by the Finnish pioneers. Following the reception the chorus, with Hook and Hurja as their guides, visited Congress. There they were received by Vice-President Garner, for whom they sang "Björneborgarnas marsch." When the chorus made its way to the gallery of the House, Hook launched into a lengthy speech in the course of which the promptly paid reparations were mentioned, and the chorus received a standing ovation. The following day Secretary of State Hull welcomed the leaders of the chorus along with Järnefelt and Hurja.78
Both Sweden and Finland also proceeded to inaugurate the celebration at home. The Steering Committee decided to commemo­rate
the landing day with a dinner in the Stockholm City Hall for 1,200 guests, among them the crown prince and princess and all the members of the parliament and city council. The crown prince made some introductory remarks, Dearing spoke, and Professor Helge Nelson from Lund gave the official address. The Stockholm lodge of the Vasa Order arranged a celebration in the Concert Hall with the prime minister as speaker, and Riksföreningen gave a party in Göteborg.79 The celebration in Finland was arranged by Suomi-Seura and was held in May in the assembly hall of the university in Helsinki in the presence of high government officials. The president and the foreign minister, who were to have given formal addresses, were both prevented from attending on account of illness. The welcoming speech was given by Engelberg, followed by formal addresses by the chairman of Suomi-Seura, Professor K. T. Jutila, and the author Richard Gothe from Sweden. All the speakers placed emphasis upon the part played by the Finns.80 Tug of War
The arrangements in both countries unfolded concurrently and in remarkably similar directions. Each country took careful note of what the other was planning and adjusted its own efforts accord­ingly.
After Congress had decided upon an invitation to Finland, Foreign Minister Henriksson stated that the problem would be to work Finnish participation in with the arrangements already made for the celebrations in the United States. He supposed that no major difficulties would arise in this regard in Sweden.81
Occasional friction could not be avoided. When Governor Earle visited Sweden an effort was also made in Finland to invite him there. The governor was prepared to fly over to Helsinki for lunch if the program that his Swedish hosts had arranged would permit this; the somewhat pointed Swedish response was that his schedule was already fixed.82
Ambassador Bostrom was especially determined that Finland would not outshine Sweden. When he heard that Finland was not only sending a delegation but also a choral group, he became determined to have a Swedish choir, for otherwise "the impression might easily be given that they had got the better of us at the ceremonies." When the Finnish delegation was reported to be in Washington, he hurried along the appearance of the Swedish delega­tion,
and when he learned that Finland intended to strike and distribute a medal he proposed that Sweden should do the same "since it would look strange if Finland but not Sweden were to issue a Delaware medal."83
Finland for its part was all the more determined to allow the tour of the Y. L. chorus to inaugurate the Delaware celebration inasmuch as the Swedish art exhibit had already opened. When the Finns got wind of the fact that the Swedes had sent commemorative stamps on first-day covers to prominent Americans, they immediately deter­mined
to do likewise in view of the great interest in philately taken in the United States and to call upon President Roosevelt, moreover, with a bound album of commemorative stamps. Hurja also hit on the idea of sending envelopes with the stamps and also President Kallio's signature to especially chosen prominent Americans. Roosevelt declared himself pleased with the gift, and its presentation to "America's number one philatelist" received the expected wide publicity.84
97 A sensitive matter was removed from the agenda without great difficulty. Finnish Americans considered the original suggestion of a Finnish monument placed in the old graveyard of the colony as unsuitable. They much preferred to raise a monument in Wilmington to "the unknown Finnish pioneer in America." Negotiations were undertaken with Delaware, but the tercentenary commission in Penn­sylvania
stated that "it would be a blunder to place your monument in The Rocks Park, Wilmington, in apparent competition with the Swedish monument" and suggested instead Chester, Pennsylvania.85
The ambassadors in Washington established direct contact with each other. Järnefelt proposed to Boström that Finland would take part in the unveiling of the Swedish monument only as a guest, "to do honor to that country with which it was united three hundred years ago." Since Järnefelt's attitude was "so considerate and understanding," Boström had put him in touch with Ward and suggested that an invitation be sent to Finland to be present as a guest—in other words, the very invitation that Delaware had refused to go along with during negotiations with Congress. Boström had also advised the Swedish Americans "for their part to avoid anything that might irritate the Finnish Americans and had said that we now must make the best of the situation." Järnefelt for his part had promised to advise the Finnish Americans to reach an accord with the Pennsylvania and Delaware commissions.86
Difficulties arose in an exchange of letters between Wuorinen and Solbert. Wuorinen had criticized, almost accused, the Swedish Americans of having omitted all mention of Finns in their publicity. Solbert replied in a letter that bore traces of the acrimony marking the differences that once existed between the two sides. He gave assurance of being prepared to cooperate but could not conceal that it was thought the Finns had inserted themselves and disturbed plans that had been underway since 1926:
We are only too happy to cooperate in any way we can but, as I said, it is a little embarrassing to us as guests of Delaware to know what to do when Congress invites someone else to a party that, in this case, the State of Delaware is giving. At the same time we are not unmindful of the fact that as the original bill is amended Finland is now on a co-equal basis with Sweden as far as the Congressional Resolution is concerned.87
If these diplomats were finding it difficult to repress their feelings, it was perhaps because at one time they had been fired up so energeti-cally. Even if no open conflicts took place, each side labored to advance its own group. Both established nationwide organizations and founded local Delaware committees in various places in the country. Nor were all reactions negative; Nordstjernan considered it gratifying that Finland had been invited; there was nothing to be gained with the academic argument that Finland had not been independent when Nya Sverige was founded:
Finns were a significant part of the first expeditions to Nya Sverige, and if Finland had been ignored in the tercentenary celebrations next year we would have had an unfortunate unpleasantness, a fly in the ointment, quite unnecessarily. The invitation to Finland was just and proper.88
The tug of war regarding the program and publicity nevertheless continued to the end, and Hurja, ruffled as always, conducted it like a political campaign. Probably his most adroit maneuver was to succeed in bringing about a change in the text on the American commemorative stamp, which had been proposed by Congressman Holmes. It had already been approved by the president and Postmaster Farley in a design that carried the words "Landing of the Swedes." Work on the stamp was already far along when Hurja, despite strong Swedish opposition, including a visit by Bostrom to the State Department, succeeded in having the text altered to: "Landing of the Swedes and Finns." The protocol section of the State Department had replied to Boström's protest that nothing could be done since the president had already approved the new design.89
In Hurja's view the program for the festivities called for careful consideration:
Our problem in the remaining days is to break down the idea that it is entirely a Swedish event, and we hope to be able to accomplish this by stressing the Chester, Pennsylvania end of the festivities. We are therefore planning to center our major effort on the monument program at Chester, and are foregoing taking part in many of the purely Swedish activities in Wilmington and in Philadelphia.90
Hurja also had ideas about how Finland could be given additional prominence in other ways. For example, Holsti might place a wreath at Benjamin Franklin's statue in Philadelphia and by so doing note that the latter had been Per Kalm's friend and advisor. Hurja T h e p o s t a g e s t a m p issued by the U n i t e d States in c o m m e m o r a t i o n
of t h e N e w S w e d e n T e r c e n t e n a r y , 1 9 3 8 .
succeeded in arranging a Finnish celebration at Finns Point without the presence of the Swedish delegation. The speakers were promi­nent,
and Hurja informed Holsti that he had done his best in arranging the main event for Finland, the unveiling of Aaltonen's monument:
The chief speaker aside from yourself, at Chester, will be Robert H. Jackson, of New York State, a native Pennsylvanian, and now Solicitor General of the U.S. I am responsible for his choice. We could not get Secretary of State Hull to make a second appearance, and rather than take an undersecretary from the same department, I felt it would be wiser to have some new blood. Mr. Jackson is a good personal friend of mine, and will make a sympathetic address. I am having lunch with him tomorrow to outline his talk. He will be "personal representative of the President" in our publicity."91
Small annoyances persisted to the end. The Agrarians in the Finnish delegation were angry when the boat that brought the delegation
ashore in Wilmington flew a Swedish flag instead of the promised Finnish one, but took comfort in the fact that Edström—the man who had barred Nurmi—proved to be entirely mistaken as to the
weather.92
The Nordic Perspective
Despite the friction and dissension, strong forces were at work to tone down the antagonism. Within the Swedish foreign ministry there was great determination to avoid any impression of acting in opposition to Finland, and whatever appeared in this regard in the Finnish press was carefully scrutinized. When the writer of the philately column in Helsingen Sanomat found occasion to take a jab at Sweden, the Swedish legation made a representation to Editor-in-Chief Erkko "that he might see to it that such was avoided in the future—for the good of the cause." It was also noted with satisfaction that in the delegation there would be a representative of the Finland-Swedish population as a sign that they wished "to demonstrate to Swedes in Sweden and in America that one is animated by a sincere desire to eliminate entirely nationalistic conflict in the present context."93 In a move unusual for the Swedish foreign ministry, the Swedish delegation in Helsinki was determined to emphasize community and sought via the foreign ministry to advance such a view in Sweden also:
Until now, it seems to me, the public in Sweden has scarcely been informed that this has to do with an historic memory held in common by Sweden and Finland, that a not insignifi­cant
number of the colonists came from Finland, and that Finland has been invited by the government of the United States to commemorate that memory in the company of the old motherland. It would without doubt make an especially good impression here if some papers would publish, for example, a lengthy article for the Sunday editions about "Finns and Finland-Swedes" in Nya Sverige or something on that order.94
The delegation also emphasized later on the importance of publicity "not least against the background of the antipathy toward Finland that continues still to be strong in certain quarters in Sweden."95
Among the Finns themselves it was especially Rafael Engelberg who exerted himself to give the celebration a sense of community. He was characterized by the Swedish delegation as "a Finn but extremely moderate in the language question and a lively activist for Nordic cooperation." The description was correct. Engelberg stood in strong opposition to, and was a target of, Finnish true-blue nationalism in consequence of the stand he took, for example, in the language controversy and in connection with the activities of Finns abroad. The delegation regarded Engelberg as representing "credit­able
opinion" when he declared that
from the point of view of Finland and particularly of Finns, there exists with respect to the Delaware celebration the deepest desire to avoid anything that might hint of rivalry or competition with Sweden for honor and glory. On the contrary, every effort is being exerted to emphasize both here and among our countrymen in America that this is a matter of a memory held in common and is a question of demonstrating to the American people that there exist in Europe two neigh­boring
nations that live in peace and harmony with each other.96
The good intentions of the Suomi-Seura leadership were especially apparent at the convocation in the university assembly hall in May 1938. In his speech of welcome Engelberg expressed his satisfaction that the celebrations were taking place side by side with Sweden; three hundred years earlier there had been the voyage together across the Atlantic; "now the delegations of our two free countries travel in concord and brotherhood once again over there to commemorate a pioneering enterprise." The chairman of the society, Professor Jutila, spoke of how the social ideals of the United States and the Nordic countries bound them together, and in a time of storm and stress these nations served as a bastion of democracy and freedom. Turning to the Swedish ambassador he recalled the common heritage of Finland and Sweden: "that past under the same royal scepter has now reawakened in the form of a close understanding between our two free countries under the sign of Scandia Major and the safe­guarding
of Nordic security. It is under this sign we meet during the commemoration, so rich with memory, of the Delaware colony." Both Engelberg and Jutila spoke in three languages, and the occasion was concluded with the national anthems of Finland, Sweden, and the United States.97 It was molded in this manner as a powerful manifes­tation
of democracy and strengthening of the Nordic alliance.
It turned out, moreover, that the delegations traveled together. The one from Finland had originally planned to travel via England, but Undersecretary Günther let it be known in Helsinki that it would T h e t u g of war over "Nya S v e r i g e " 1 9 3 8 . ( C o u r t e s y of the National Archives, H e l s i n k i .)
be regarded with much satisfaction if the delegation from Finland would travel together with the Swedes on the Kungsholm. Holsti, who had long been considering taking the Queen Mary, responded that he placed great value on the offer and that "it would make an especially good impression here and tend to muzzle the I.K.L., which tried to cast suspicions on Sweden's intentions with respect to the Delaware celebration." The American ambassador in Helsinki surmised that with this offer the Swedes wanted to keep the delegation from Finland from appearing to be "too sharply differenti­ated."
Among Finnish Americans the arrangement to travel together was seen as a big mistake, and the delegation was advised by telegraph to travel on a "neutral" line and in that way preserve its identity. With respect solely to giving Finland greater market exposure the Finnish Americans were probably right, but it was of the first importance to the supporters of Nordic cooperation that Finland be associated with Sweden, a point later emphasized by Holsti, Engelberg, Amos Andersson, and others.98
Whose Nya Sverige? The tug of war between Sweden and Finland regarding the Delaware celebration continued, but there were also other groups within the respective countries who wished to advance their views. Pennsylvania and New Jersey did not want to hear about a Delaware celebration but only of Nya Sverige. When the governor of Jön­köping
pleaded with Edström that Governor Earle be allowed to visit his residence, which stood in the same place where Printz had once been governor, he urged further: "Do not let it be forgotten that it was men from Småland who crossed over and created Nya Sverige!" The city of Eksjö wanted to link up its quincentenary with Nya Sverige on the basis of the large emigration from Småland. The Kölnische Volkzeitung joked about this "Swedish" celebration in the United States when it was well known that its originator, Peter Minuit, came from Wesel am Rhein and that a large number of the colonists were Germans from Pomerania, and in addition that Hans Kramer kept the colony's accounts in German."
Swedish Finns for their part were disposed to point out that by no means all "Finns" spoke Finnish, but that Printz had resided for ten years at Korsholm domain and a number of his colonists and soldiers probably had been recruited in Swedish Österbotten. Georg von Wendt stated that it could not be shown that any sizable contingent of colonists would have been Finnish woodsmen from Värmland and Savolaxians of the same sort; the major portion of the colonists who had their roots in Finland "were among the finest of our country's pioneering stock, that is, both Finnish- as well as Swedish-speaking Österbotten people."100
Before long, Swedish Finns in America also aroused themselves to promote their part in the enterprise. The complaint was made that Finnish Americans did not take into account the fact that most of the so-called Finns among the colonists were Swedish-speaking. The celebration was taking place accordingly at the expense of the Swedish component of the country, which had not at all been considered when the Finnish committee was formed: "At the same time that Finns might criticize mainland Swedes because they were not invited so might they themselves be criticized for having neglected to take into consideration the Swedish Finns in America."101
The Runeberg Order, the Swedish-Finnish organization in the United States, weighed the possibility at the end of 1937 of founding its own tercentenary committee, and a representative of the order described the dilemma of Swedish Finns in America:
A Finnish-American tercentenary committee already exists, but it has no contact with Swedish Finns settled in this country, while Finnish Finns garner all the honors in the meantime. They can scarcely turn to the Swedish-American national committee since it concerns in the first instance Swedes from mainland Sweden, while the committee for Swedish Finns is concerned with advancing its own group from the home country of Finland.102
Those who most energetically insisted on their share of the celebra­tion
were, however, Savolaxians, especially those born in Rautalampi, who labored to have their own representation at the festivities. The historical society of the parish decided in October 1937 that inasmuch as the greater portion of Finns from Värmland called Rautalampi their home, a stone tablet from the parish ought to be set up at a suitable location; it ought to include a text that referred to the contribution of the parishioners to the early colonization of Delaware. The society designated the Finnish consul general in Montreal, A. J. Jalkanen, a native of Rautalampi, as their representative with the mission of presenting the gift.103
The Rautalampi group was able only to donate the plinth for Aaltonen's monument and concentrated instead on their own festivities in July 1938. On that occasion they dedicated a splendid homestead museum from the parish, a stone building of two stories, and unveiled a 3.5 meter high Delaware monument in stone with a relief showing a frontiersman with axe in hand standing alongside a felled tree. The festivities, including a speech by Engelberg and a lecture by Gothe, were broadcast and continued for two days with about four thousand persons present. Three national anthems were also heard: the Savolaxian patriotic song "Savolaisten laulu," and those of the United States and Finland. Greetings were extended from government officials, Helsinki University, and a large array of national and local organizations.104
A certain bitterness over the fact that the official Finnish celebra­tion
was dominated by Tavastians and others who had nothing whatever to do with the matter also came into view in the observa­tion
by the Savolaxian Social Democratic parliamentarian and causeur "Sasu Punanen" (Yrjö Räisänen) that there was not a single Savolaxian to be found in the official delegation; with respect to the honorary degrees that were awarded to the leaders of the Finnish delegation he observed that while Savolaxians had cleared Delaware three hundred years ago for cultivation, they of course counted for little in the United States when honorary degrees were to be handed out: Many men, many tasks.105
What the Celebration Achieved
In this regard the celebrations that took place in the United States must be left to one side. They began with the unveiling of the Swedish monument in Wilmington on 27 June. The occasion was marred by the late arrival of the Kungsholm on account of fog, torrential rains, and the inability of the crown prince to attend on account of illness. Speeches were given by Prince Bertil and President Roosevelt, and Foreign Minister Holsti presented the Finnish commemorative Delaware medal in gold to the president. Finland's day came two days later, 29 June, at which time were unveiled the Aaltonen monument in Chester and a monument at Finns Point. The following days were crammed with festivities for both delegations, unveiling of monuments, banquets, and so on until the official program concluded on 2 July in Washington. Afterwards members of both of the delegations continued to travel in the United States, the Swedes to visit Swedish settlements, the Finns Finnish ones.
The representatives of both countries summed up their impres­sions
with evident satisfaction. Bostrom thought that the commemo­ration
in America had been "an event of the first order." The members of the royal house had received an enthusiastic reception from thousands of Swedish Americans and the press. Järnefelt was of the opinion that Finland also had received very good publicity: 74 million commemorative stamps had been distributed as had three thousand biographies, and a like number of newspapers had carried articles about Finland. Finland had enjoyed tremendous publicity. Both envoys took special note of the importance that Americans attached to ancestry and the significance that the celebrations had had in this regard. Bostrom, disposed even in his final report to omit mention of Finland, stated that it had become apparent to all of America "that Sweden was one of the three countries that founded its first thirteen states, that Swedes had made a large contribution to the development of the country, and that Swedish Americans contribute to it an important element of industriousness and of law and order." The Finnish view was that it was a question of four countries; Järnefelt stated in similar fashion how the Finnish pioneers' part in the creation of the first white colony at the mouth of the Delaware River had been praised in the speeches and how thousands of newspapers had written "about Finland, its integrity, and that Finns belonged to the group of countries that had founded this nation." Both envoys also called attention to the importance that the celebra­tions
had had for Swedish-American and Finnish-American self-esteem respectively, which had been strengthened both through the preparations for the celebration and the manner in which it had been observed. This aspect was noted on many occasions. The president of the Augustana Synod said that Swedes were now included in America's "pioneer aristocracy," Engelberg that Finns were acknowl­edged
as one of the founding nations.106
In Finland it was considered an honor to have participated on equal footing together with Sweden and the United States; Engelberg, moreover, considered this and especially President Roosevelt's remark about Finland, "small in size but mighty in honor," as a reaffirmation of Finland's independence.107
Even though the envoys were pleased and in most respects were in agreement, it will be useful in conclusion to take note of the differences in the two countries' conduct of the celebration, what image they sought to present of themselves, and what final impres­sion
was left. The Swedish preparations began nearly two years earlier, an advantage that Finland was never able to overtake. Swedish participation in the celebration thus was better organized, whereas the Finnish plans had only a short period in which to be formulated. Because of these basic differences the Swedes held the initiative the entire time so that the Finnish endeavor was for long chiefly a reaction to Swedish activities; this was most clearly apparent in the controversy regarding the issuance of the invitation. The Swedish Americans with Ambassador Bostrom in the background almost succeeded in blocking the invitation to Finland. Despite the brief time available to the Finns they accomplished a great deal though lacking anything to match the Swedish art exhibit and historical exhibition.
The Swedes also had an advantage from the start, for even if a large number of the colonists were of Finnish origin it was, as Bostrom insisted, an enterprise conducted under Swedish sovereignty; the name New Sweden itself provided the Swedes with advance publicity. When the press referred to Kalmar Nyckel as "the Swedish Mayflower," this also had the effect of placing modern Sweden in the consciousness of the public. Bostrom and the other Swedish diplomats were little concerned to distinguish between Sweden "then" and Sweden "now." The Finns for their part placed emphasis on the frontiersman and pioneer aspects, as was apparent also in the symbolism used in their monuments, medals, and postage stamps: nothing but somber, unkempt men at work clearing stubble. In a manner not wholly lacking of course in historic support, Finland and the Finns ended up looking as though they belonged to a lower order, denizens of the forests and byways. The Swedish celebration emphasized the part played by the Crown; the Finnish one was based on the part played by the people. It was symptomatic that Boström had wished to have a monument made to Gustav II Adolf and the Finnish Americans one to the unknown Finnish pioneer.
The Swedish Steering Committee for the celebration had several strings to its bow also. The contributions of Swedes as founders and pioneers in some of the original colonies were noted, but modern Sweden was also represented, a state with a highly developed industry, prominent universities, research and educational facilities, as well as a forward-looking social program in harmony with New Deal politics. In this regard it was possible to take advantage of the successful image created by Marquis Childs' Sweden: The Middle Way (1936).108 Over against this more sophisticated and modern impression Finland could really only present its reparations. The difference could also be seen with respect to the preparations and the delega­tions.
Even though the government played a leading role in the preparations made by both countries, the Swedish ones were given a broader, more people-oriented character, for example through the national campaign for funds and the very large delegation, whereas the Finnish delegation was more official in character and their monument was paid for by the state.
Furthermore, Sweden had access to a tremendous resource in its royalty. The crown prince's speeches, the honorary doctorate given him at Harvard, his dignified utterances on current affairs were balanced in a manner obviously made irresistible to the American press by Prince Bertil's youthful charm. One paper described him as "young, handsome, and single." He had a beer with journalists, let his fingerprints be taken in Chicago, and tried out fast cars at Henry Ford's factory. The American press was said to be "in hot pursuit after every little episode that can be interpreted as an indication of the prince's democratic temperament." The attention lavished on the royal personages was so great that the two prime ministers on their way home had "found it a bit odd that their American opposites had taken so little notice of the representative character of His Majesty's government." They acknowledged that the embassy had done its best for them, but their efforts "had been of little avail given the Americans' weakness for royalty and unwillingness to accommodate themselves to the rules of precedence."109
Three Democracies
On one point all three countries were of one mind. In a world where the danger of war was increasing and where authoritarian regimes were engaged in strengthening their positions, expression was given repeatedly to the common interest of the democracies in government by the people, in peace, and in respect for the rights of individuals and for international treaties. This was stated in many speeches and in the appearances of the leaders of the delegations, just as it was also by the American delegates and Secretary of State Hull. That this was not wholly free of controversy, at least not in Finland, was apparent in the reactions to Foreign Minister Holsti's speech at the unveiling of the monument in Chester. He took note of the fact that history is concerned not only with the struggle between nations, but also with the struggle with nature and tellingly drew from this observation both the pioneer qualities of the Finnish people and the ideals that bound together Finland and the United States:
The history of the Finns, which goes back more than a thou­sand
years, has been an especially hard struggle against nature—a struggle to conquer the soil, seldom fertile, usually only too barren. . . . Peoples and individuals who come in constant contact with the ever creative forces of nature are bound to become individualists and, so to you Americans as well as to us Finns, freedom as such becomes as precious a principle as the respect for justice in general. We democrats on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean do not want to live merely for the sake of existing.110
The phrase "we democrats" offended the I.K.L. paper Ajan Suunta, which thought that the minister should have had something better to say to the people of America than to make use of cheap phrases that had been repeatedly used by members of the People's Front and that were expressions of the self-righteousness with which socialist agitators attempted to influence the people. The catchy phrases were of the sort that the socialist officials of the Scandinavian countries had diligently cultivated and that had been turned into pure Marxist propaganda. Given the Americans' curiously limited turn of mind it was easy to understand that the phrase had had its effect, but this did not alter the fact that the minister had thereby weakened the nation's political standing and reputation in the world. This was by no means allowed to go unchallenged; several papers joined in the polemics and exclaimed that the fascists had revealed their intentions. The Social Democratic press of course made its opposition known; Reinhold Svento emphasized the significance of Finland's having joined the celebrations with Sweden and thereby having shown the United States that it belonged to the democratic group of nations in the North and followed the same principles as did the United States and the other democratic countries with respect to the desire for peace and regard for international treaties. In addition Suomen Sosialidemokraatti took advantage of the democratic notes struck in the crown prince's speech in Boston; he had spoken in praise of reforms, people's movements, and not least the workers' movement, whereas the reactionaries and the far right in Finland attacked the democratic system and greeted the aggressiveness of totalitarian states as salvation from Bolshevism.111
Historic Significance
Yet another characteristic held in common was the tremendous attention given to the celebration. In retrospect the excitement accorded the Delaware celebration seems somewhat astonishing, just as it did again in 1988. The events of 1638 scarcely deserved all the monuments, medals, postage stamps, publications and other things that had poured out over the celebration. The colony was an episode in both the foreign policy of the Swedish kingdom and the history of North America, and no real continuity is to be found between the small number of early colonists and the mass emigration that had its beginnings in the nineteenth century and that took place on entirely different premises.
Some commentators noted in the course of the general euphoria that the colony itself was quite insignificant and did not belong among the proudest moments of the Swedish kingdom. Its character as a symbol of other evaluations was evident in the candid statement of The American Swedish Monthly that "this tercentenary is itself of greater historical importance than the particular event which it recalls."112 Critical views were few. One voice with a sense of proportion was that of the historian Eirik Hornborg: An objective appraisal must conclude that "the Delaware commemoration" became extraordinarily over-publicized. But it is easy enough to see why: the celebration has been used as a point of departure for national publicity, a reminder of the existence of certain small countries which were among those that did their bit when the foundations were laid for "God's own country." This is obvious not least in the jealous fervor with which Finland elbowed its way to a position of equality alongside Sweden.
The Delaware commemoration takes on an almost grotesque appearance when the colonizing of Nya Sverige is compared with another colonization that is one of the most remarkable events in the history of the Swedish kingdom—and by the same token also in that of Finland—but that on one side of the border is disregarded on account of ignorance, on the other side on account of misdirected nationalism. I have in mind the Swedish colonization of Finland at the time of the Crusades. The United States of America would be what they are even if that renowned vessel Kalmar Nyckel had never sailed up the Delaware, but Northern Europe's history would have assumed quite another appearance if sainted King Erik, Birger Jarl, and Lord High Constable Torgils Knutsson had not conquered the eastern land in the name of the Swedish Crown and the Church of Rome and planted that land with Christian men, so that the Russian king was bereft of it. With that, the boundary of the western world shifted 300 miles eastward, and the foundation was laid for present-day Finland. In comparison, the colonization in Delaware plummets to insignificance, a mere episode, an ignominious speculation in tobacco.113
Translated by CARL L. ANDERSON
NOTES
1 Svenska Dagbladet, 2 July 1938; Uusi Suomi, 3 July 1938 (hereafter abbreviated SvD and US).
2 Dagens Nyheter, 20 July 1938, cited in Hufvudstadsbladet, 21 July 1938 (hereafter abbreviated DN and Hbl).
'Matti Klinge, Runebergs
tvä fosterland (Helsingfors, 1983), 7-30 and Studenter och idéer. Studentkåren vid Helsingfors universitet 1828-1960 IV (Helsingfors, 1979), 119-32,156-63; Kari Selén, "I all vänskap. En diskussion om Sveriges Ålandspolitik 1918," Historisk Tidskrift för Finland, 66 (1981), 248-69; Max Engman, "Konungen eller hakkapeliterna? Gustav
Adolfsminnet
i Finland
1932," Historisk Tidskrift för Finland, 75 (1990), 566-616. On 12 August 1932 the chauvinistic organization Aitosuomalainen suggested a boycott of ASEA because of the measures taken by Director Edström against Paavo Nurmi. 4 Cf. Eric Hobsbawn and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge,
5 Helge Almquist, "Kolonistmonumentet i Delaware — en sextioårig tanke," SvD, 8 April 1938.
6 Dag Blanck, "History at Work: The 1888 New Sweden Jubilee," Swedish-American Historical Quarterly, 39 (1988), 5-20.
7 Blanck, "History at Work," 6, and "Nya Sverige 350 år," Invandrare och minoriteter, (2/1989), 34-36; Fritz Henriksson, Med Sveriges kronprinspar genom Amerika (Stockholm, 1926), 60-79, 117-20. \
8 Sverige-Amerika Stiftelsen to Sandler, 22 January 1935, Boström to Sandler, 28 February 1935, Boström to Henriksson, 10 June 1936, Minutes of the Meeting to Organize a General Tercentenary Committee...February 23, 1935, Utrikesdepartementet, 1920 års Dossiersystem P, vol. 843, Riksarkivet, Stockholm (hereafter abbreviated UD 1920 P 843); American Swedish Monthly, (4/1935), 32, (6/1935), 37, (6/1938) 71, 132 (hereafter abbreviated ASM).
9 The Swedish Part in the Delaware Tercentenary," ASM, (4/1935), 4; Boström to Sandler, 28 February 1935, UD 1920 P 843.
10Henriksson's memorandum of 18 September 1936, UD 1920 P 843. " Bostrom to the foreign minister, 25 October 1935 and 8 March 1936, UD 1920 P 843. 12Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 2nd Session, House Joint Resolution 499, vol. 80:6, 6136-37, 80:8, 8434, 80:10, 9228; J. E. Brown to K. G. Westman, 27 July 1936, Westman to Brown, 7 September 1936, UD 1920 P 843; ASM, (4/1936) 36-37, (5/1936), 33, 37. 13 Boström to Henriksson, 25 October 1935, Henriksson to Boström, 31 March 1936, minutes of 20 May 1936, UD 1920 P 843.
"Henriksson
t
o Boström, 25 May 1936, UD 1920 P 843; Ny Tid, 15 May 1936; Svenska Morgonbladet, 15 May 1936.
15 Henriksson's memorandum of 20 August 1936 and announcement of 11 September 1936, UD 1920 P 843; the Steering Committee's minutes of 16 September 1936 (hereafter abbreviated SC min.); budget calculation of 2 December 1936, the Steering Committee's archive, 1, Riksarkivet, Stockholm (hereafter abbreviated SC arc, 1). On two subsequent occasions the membership of the Steering Committee was increased, see the documents auprotokoll, 13 April and 7 May 1937 (hereafter abbreviated auprot.), SC arc, 1.
16 For example, Göteborgs Handels och Sjöfartstidning, 12 November 1936; DN, 8 December 1936.
17 DN, 8 December 1936; Aftonbladet, 6 December 1936.
18 Boström to Henriksson, 10 June and 2 July 1936, Solbert to Boström, 4 August 1936, UD 1920 P 843.
19 SC min., 16 September 1936; auprot., 22 and 29 September 1936, SC arc, 1; cf. Eric Joannesson, "Blomsterkungen i republiken USA. Om Linnéstatyn i Chicago 1891," Svenska linnésällskapets årsskrift 1988-1989,101-14.
20 Stockholms-Tidningen, 11 May 1936 (hereafter abbreviated Sts-T); Hedin to Boström, 30 June 1936, Boström to Henriksson, 2 July 1936, Boström to Solbert, 12 November 1936, UD 1920 P 843; Boström to the foreign ministry, 17 December 1936, Henriksson to Boström, 3 February 1937, UD 1920 P 844; auprot, 14 and 21 October 1936, 27 January 1937, SC arc, 1.
1983). 21 Auprot, 12 November; 2,9,11 and 16 December 1936; 5 and 13 January 1937, SC arc, 1; Edstrom to Bostrom, 4 and 10 December 1936, UD 1920 P 844.
22 Sts-T, 20 and 29 November 1936.
23 Auprot., 7, 14, 21 and 28 October; 4 November and 2 December 1936, SC arc, 1; minutes of the provincial governors' conference, 10 November 1936, Edstrom to Bostrom, 12 November 1936, UD 1920 P 843; Allsvensk Samling, (1-2/1937), 11, 15 (hereafter abbreviated AS).
24 Henriksson's memorandum of 20 August 1936, Bostrom to the foreign ministry, 16 October 1936, UD 1920 P 843; von Post to Simonsson, UD 1920 P 844; auprot., 10 February 1937, SC arc, 1.
25 Boström to the foreign ministry, 18 June 1936, A. Johnson to Bostrom, 3 July 1936, the presentation to His Royal Majesty, 18 November 1936, UD 1920 P 843; the statement of the Swedish Mint, 3 December 1936, the statement of the National Bank, 17 December 1936, UD 1920 P 844; SC min., 11 November 1936, auprot., 22 September and 21 October 1936, 10 and 24 February 1937, SC arc, 1; SvD, 8 December 1936.
26 Minutes of 20 May 1936, Henriksson to Bostrom, 25 May 1936, UD 1920 P 843; auprot, 4 November 1936,13 January 1937, SC arc, 1.
27 Edström to Rodhe, 18 November 1936, UD 1920 P 843; auprot, 21 October, 25 November and 9 December 1936,20 January 1937, SC arc, 1; SvD, 9 October 1936; AS, (21/1936), 11.
28 F. W. Melvin to Boström, 10 February 1937, UD 1920 P 844; Nordstjernan, 10 September 1936; AS, (19-20/1936), 21.
29 Boström to the foreign ministry, 9 March 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
30 Henriksson's memoranda of 10 and 15 March 1936, UD 1920 P 844.
31 Act 31, supplement to Bostrom and the foreign minister, 16 October 1936, UD 1920 P 843; published in AS (7/1937), 7.
32 Edström to von Wendt, 29 January 1937, UD 1920 P 844; auprot, 27 January, 3 February 1937, SC arc, 1.
33 Melvin to Järnefelt, 25 September 1938 (copy), UM 66 C USA, Delaware, Utrikes¬ministeriets arkiv, Helsingfors.
34 Järnefelt to Viherjuuri, 18 March 1937 (copy), Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 16 November 1936, 8 February 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware.
35 New Yorkin Uutiset, 17 April 1937.
^Melvin G. Holli, "1938 Delaware Tercentenary: Establishing a Finnish Presence in the 300th Anniversary Celebration," in Finnish Identity in America, Turun Historiallinen Arkisto 46 (1990), 33-37. Concerning Ilmonen, see Raymond W. Wargelin, "Salomon Ilmonen: Early Finnish Historian," Siirtolaisuus-Migration, (3/1987), 3-11. Concerning Hurja, see among other sources Järnefelt to Holsti and Eljas Erkko, 2 November 1936, Finland's delegation in Washington, Fe:3, Utrikesministeriets arkiv, Helsingfors. On Cajander's position as honorary patron, see Hbl, 27 January 1938. "Hurja to Holsti, May 1938, cited by Holli, 41.
^Henriksson to von Heidenstam, 11 March 1937, Henriksson's memorandum of 15 March 1937, the foreign ministry to the delegation in Washington, 12 May 1937, UD 1920 P 844; Steinhardt to the State Department, 12 March 1937, State Department (hereafter abbreviated SD) Decimal file 811.415, Delaware River Valley Tercentenary, National Archives, Washington.
39 Boström to Günther, 30 March 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
40 Boström to Günther, 30 March 1937 and to the foreign ministry, 22 May 1937, UD 1920 P 844; Cuming to Dunn, 16 March 1937, SD 811.415; concerning Holmes, see AS, (5-6/1937). 11.
41 Valvoja (Calumet), 10 December 1935; Amerikan Suometar, 10 December 1935; Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:5, 5744. 42Järnefelt's reports of 3-13 February 1936, 6-17 April 1937 and 2-22 January 1938, UM 5 C 8; LaGuardia's salutation on 19 June 1937 (copy), Finland's delegation in Washington, Fbg:20.
•"Juhani
Aalste
, Heikki Aittola, Jukka Mauno, Suomen Joutsen (Helsinki, 1989), 7; Congressional Record, 76th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 84:9,10002; cf. Finland's delegation in Washington, Fa:16.
44 Procopé to Örne, 24 June 1937 (copy), UD 1920 P 844.
45 Örne to Procopé, 21 June 1937 and to Günther, 25 June 1937, Henriksson to Berencreutz, 25 August 1937, the same assurances are also in Beck-Friis to von Heidenstam, 19 July 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
"Boström
t
o Henriksson, 8 May 1937, UD 1920 P. 844. Boström thought that it would be useful "if the editors-in-chief involved would take a critical look at irresponsible statements such as these." Nils Ahnlund, "Nya Sverige," Ymer, 57 (1937), 259-71.
47 SvD, 5 May 1937.
48 Boström to the foreign ministry, 6 May 1937, the foreign ministry to the delegation in Washington, 14 August 1937, UD 1920 P 844. The Finns were advised that Boström had protested to both the State Department and certain congressmen, Hurja to Holsti, undated, Holsti 71, National Archives, Helsinki; Finland's delegation in Washington to the foreign ministry, 26 May 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware. "Memorandum, 11 August 1937, SD 811.415.
50 Wijkman to Boström, 10 August 1937, Solbert to Edström, 26 August 1937 (copy), UD 1920 P 844.
"Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:4, 27 April 1937, 3862.
52 Hurja to Holsti, undated, Holsti 71; Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 30 April and 26 May 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware. Christopher Ward was the author of The Dutch and the Swedes on the Delaware, 1609-64 (Philadelphia, 1930) and prior to the celebration published New Sweden on the Delaware (Philadelphia, 1938); he visited Sweden in connection with the preparations, see DN and SvD, 17 July 1937. Boström was highly complementary of Ward, see Boström to Edström, 30 March 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
53 Saari to Hull, 12 July 1937, previous letters, 22 June and 3 July 1937 and to McReynolds, 12 July 1937, SD 811.415.
54 Hull to Saari, 8 July 1937, Gray to SD, 3 August 1937, SD 811.415. a House Reports, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 3, Report No. 1391.
M Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:8, 21 August 1937, 9619.
57 Ibid., 9620.
58 Ibid., 9621-22. In a lengthy commentary that Hook attached to the official record of the House, he made direct parallels between the seventeenth-century Finns in Delaware and their counterparts in the 1930s: "Honesty, fair dealing, and hard work," Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:10, Appendix, 2448-49.
59 Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:8, 9622. "Dearing to SD, 30 August 1937, SD 811.415.
61 In his letter of 10 September 1937, Edström assured Solbert that the Finnish foreign minister obviously would defer to the Swedish crown prince and walk behind him. The matter of which delegation would enter first at the ceremonial events was of great concern to Boström, who fretted over the circumstance that the Finnish foreign minister was participating in its delegation; thereby the Finnish delegation would enter first at the events not attended by the crown prince, see Bostrom to Sandler, 22 March 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
^Memorandum, 25 August 1937, Hull to Roosevelt, 25 August and 2 September 1937, SD 811.415.
"Schoenfeld to SD, 8 October 1937, SD 811.415.
64 Cumming to Wells, 18 October 1937, SD to the delegations in Stockholm and Helsinki, 10 September 1937, SD 811.415. "Memorandum, 13 October 1937, SD 811.415.
uHbl, 24 September and 7 October 1937, Ilta-Sanomat, 7 October 1937, Turun Sanomat,
28 November 1937, Ilkka, 6 February 1938; subsequently also in Helsingin Sanomat (hereafter abbreviated HeSa), 28 June 1938, US, 28 June 1938, and Nyland, 28 June 1938.
67 US, 28 June 1938. Concerning the debts, see HeSa, 7 October 1937, Ilta-Sanomat, 7 October 1937, and Ilkka, 6 February 1938. The congressional discussion was published in extenso in Suomen Silta (1937, hereafter abbreviated SS), 79-85 and in John H. Wuorinen, The Finns on the Delaware 1638-1655: An Essay in American Colonial History (New York, 1938).
68 Tarjanne to the foreign ministry, 9 March 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; Henriksson's memorandum of 10 March 1937, Henriksson to von Heidenstam, 11 March 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
m Memorandum, 21 January 1937, Suomen Ulkomaankävijäin Seura (Suomi-Seura), minutes of 18 April 1937, Soumi-Seura's archive (hereafter abbreviated S-SA), Helsinki; SS (1937), 10.
""Council of State's minutes of 3 September 1937, f 298, National Archives, Helsinki; Suomi-Seura to the Council of State, 13 October 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; Suomi-Seura, auprot., 7 September, 13 and 23 October 1937, S-SA. 71 Council of State's minutes of 4 November 1937, f 9-10,13 January 1938, f 167-68, and 20 January 1938, f 266-67. At one point it had been decided that Aaltonen would make a bust of Roosevelt, see Hurja to Holsti, 8 December 1937 and Hbl, 23 January 1938. "Council of State's minutes of 27 January 1938, f 447, Hurja to Holsti, 8 December
1937, Holsti to Järnefelt, 27 January 1938, Holsti 45. Besides Holsti only two other members of the Finnish delegation spoke English.
"Edström to the provincial governors, undated, UD 1920 P 844; SC min., 12 May 1937, auprot., 21 April, 5,12,19 and 26 May, 25 August 1937, SC arc, 1; AS (10/1938), 12.
74 Auprot., 24 March and 25 August 1937,12 January and 16 February 1938, SC arc, 1-2; memorandum, 9 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
75 Henriksson, Sveriges deltagande i Nya Sverige jubileet (Stockholm, 1939), 20; auprot., 2, 9 and 17 June, 8 December 1937, 9 January, 13 April 1938, SC arc, 1-2; AS (5-6/1938), 35,121.
76 Melvin to Boström, 10 February 1937 (copy), Bostrom to the foreign ministry, 9 October 1937, UD 1920 P 845; SC min., 2 December 1937, auprot, 16 February 1937, SC arc, 1-2; AS (5-6/1937), 8, (11-12/1937), 16, (23-24/1937), 5-6,9-11. Delaware observed
29 March 1938 (the anniversary of the landing according to the old style) as Swedish Colonial Day, see Bostrom to the foreign minister, 8 April 1939, UD 1920 P 845; ASM (4/1938), 24-25; Nordstjernan, 6 April 1939.
77 Henriksson, Sveriges deltagande i Nya Sverige jubileet, 47-55.
78Järnefelt's report of 1-18 January 1938, UM 5 C 8 and Finland's delegation in Washington, Fbc:8; Lännen Suometar, 28 January 1938, New York Times, 7 and 12 January
1938, New York Herald Tribune, 8 January 1938.
79 Auprot, 16 February and 16 March 1938, SC arc, 2; Laurin to Henriksson, 17 March 1938, UD 1920 P 845; AS (8/1938), 5, 11-12.
mHbl, 24 May 1938; von Heidenstam to the foreign minister, 31 May 1938, UD 1920 P 845. Gothe's speech and his radio address are in Holsti 71 and were published in SS (1938), 81-85, 151-59.
81 Henriksson to Berencreutz, 25 August 1937, UD 1920 P 844; auprot., 24 November 1937, SC arc, 2. According to Henriksson, the Steering Committee expressed its satisfaction in the mutual understanding that seemed attainable, see Henriksson to von Heidenstam, 30 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
82 Wuorinen to Holsti, 7 November 1937, Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 11 and 18 November 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; Earle to A, Johnson with an assumed negative response to his letter, UD 1920 P 845.
83 Boström to Günther, 9 December 1937 and to the foreign ministry, 17 February and 12 March 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
81 Wuorinen to Holsti, 10 November 1937 and to Engelberg, 13 November 1937 (copy), von Numers to the foreign ministry, 16 May 1937, Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 17 October 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware.
85 Melvin to Järnefelt, 15 February 1938 (copy), Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 16 February and 3 May 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware. For information about the plans of the Finnish Americans for their monument, see Dahlman to Henriksson, 16 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
86 Boström to Günther, 4 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
87 Solbert to Wuorinen, 26 October 1937, Wuorinen to Hedin, undated (copy), UD 1920 P 845.
^Nordstjernan, 9 September 1937.
•"Woodward to Dunn, 2 May 1938, Dunn to Welles, 29 April 1938, SD 811.415. Dunn also called attention to the inappropriateness of Stanley Arthur's historical painting for the stamp, which showed an Indian chief making "the Hitler salute," Holli, 41-42.
90 Hurja to Holsti, undated, Holsti 71; Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 13 May 1938 and to Holsti, 17 May 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; Boström to Edström, 30 March 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
91 Hurja to Holsti, undated, Holsti 71. Solicitor General Jackson gave indeed a speech that fulfilled all expectations, in which he stated that the monument consisted "of Finnish granite as solid as Finnish integrity" and emphasized both countries' belief in democracy and their love of freedom; the speech is preserved in UM 66 C USA, Delaware. Hurja and Järnefelt worked until the last minute on making changes in the official Delaware program in order to pay sufficient regard to Finland, see Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 25 May and 2 June 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware.
92Ilkka, 13,14 and 17 July 1938; SS (1938), 213.
93 Dahlman to Henriksson, 12 October and 16 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
94 Dahlman to Henriksson, 3 March 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
95 Dahlman to Thorsing, 13 April 1938. A brief article about the Finnish preparations for the Delaware jubilee, evidently inspired by the foreign ministry, was published in DN, 15 May 1938.
96 Dahlman to Henriksson, 16 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845. Von Heidenstam considered that it was thanks to Engelberg's "tact and abilities that the anything other than popular collaboration on this project has been accomplished completely without friction and quite simply become an opportunity for neighborliness," von Heidenstam to Boheman, 1 July 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
97 Report in Hbl, 24 May 1938; see also von Heidenstam to the foreign minister, 31 May 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
"Günther to von Heidenstam, 23 November 1937, von Heidenstam to Günther, 25 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845; Schoenfeldt to SD, 26 November 1937, SD 811.415; telegram to Holsti, 1 March 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; HeSa, 15 and 17 July 1938, St-T, 17 July 1938, SS (1938), 137, 170.
99 Hamrin to Edström, undated copy, UD 1920 P 845; Kölnische Volkszeitung, 6 March 1938, AS (5-6/1938) 10, 97-98.
100 Hbl, 5 February 1937, a polemical reply to Kauppalehti.
101 Norden, cited in Vår Tid (9/1937).
102 Svenska Posten, cited in Nordstjernan, 2 December 1937.
103 Jalkanen to the foreign ministry, 20 November 1937, Rautalammin Historiallinen Yhdistys to the foreign ministry, 2 January 1938, together with minutes of 29 October 1937, Finland's delegation in Washington to the foreign ministry, 5 April 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware.
m Savon Sanomat, 5 July 1938, Pohjois-Savo, 5 July 1938, SS (1938), 160-162.
105 Suomen Sosialidemokraatti, 30 June 1938.
106 Boström to the foreign minister, 28 July 1938, UD 1920 P 845; Järnefelt's report of 11-12 July 1938, UM 5 C 8 and interview in Hbl, 26 July 1938; AS (5-6/1938), 8-10, SS (1938), 70,137,162.
107 SS, (1938), 137,213.
108 Cf. Merle Curti, "Sweden in the American Social Mind of the 1930s," in J. J. Dowie and J. T. Tredway, eds., The Immigration of Ideas: Studies in the North Atlantic Community. Essays Presented to O. Fritiof Ander (Rock Island, Illinois, 1968), 159-84. ""Boheman to Boström, 9 August 1938; Boström defended himself by saying that the embassy had done its best, but that the hosts had simply done what they wanted to, Boström to Boheman, 22 August 1938, UD 1920 P 845; Henriksson, Sveriges deltagande i Nya Sverige jubileet, 113-15,144,146,148. The attention paid to the royal personages was so great that it also was noted in the Finnish press, for example, HeSa, 7 and 15 July 1938, likka, 14 July 1938 and Karjala, 16 July 1938. On 16 July 1938 Ajan Suunta commented ironically as to how the "democratic" or, to put it more accurately, Marxist-directed Sweden celebrated royalty and then stated: "Plutocratic America can probably classify the democracies according to their value. First the crown, then the collar [yoke]."
""The speech has been preserved in Holsti 71. Cf. SS (1983), 71, AS (8/1938), 71, ASM (7/1938), 10.
111 Ajan Suunta, 2 July 1938, Turun Sanomat, 3 July 1938, Suomen Sosialidemokraatti, 7 and 15 July 1938.
mASM (7/1938), 4, Wilhelm Lundström in AS (5-6/1938), 2 and (8/1938), 5, Anders
Örne
i
n AS (5-6/1938), 7 and Holger Wikström in Vår Tid (5/1938).
'"Eirik Hornborg, "Ett jubileum och en jämförelse," Nya Argus (1938), 186-87.

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THE TOG OF WAR OVER "NYA SVERIGE'' 1938
MAX
ENGMA
N
During the celebration of the tercentenary of the founding of "Nya Sverige" (New Sweden) in 1938, the Swedish and Finnish delegations arrived early in July in Washington after ceremonies held in Dela­ware,
Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. The Federal Tercentenary Committee appointed by President Roosevelt gave a luncheon at which were exchanged, according to Svenska Dagbladet, "quite remarkable speeches" between the leaders of the two delegations, Foreign Minister Rudolf Holsti and Sigfrid Edström, President of ASEA. After Holsti had thanked their hosts, especially President Roosevelt, for the courtesies shown Finland at the unveiling in Chester of the monument to the Finnish colonists and also Prince Bertil for his participation in the ceremonies,
he extended warm thanks to the Swedish delegation and noted among other things that there had been no rivalry, only agreeable cooperation. Edstrom replied immediately, saying in turn that the Finns had given us strength now as in colonial times three hundred years ago. Thereupon the two leaders shook hands before all present in a spontaneous, cordial, and firm gesture.1
In Dagens Nyheter Editor-in-Chief Dahlgren, himself a member of the Swedish delegation, commented on the event in the same spirit:
The happily worded and enthusiastically stated remark left a strong and surprising impression, and there is every reason to believe what Mr. Holsti himself assured me, that it arose altogether spontaneously out of his sauna-pure Finnish heart.2
Generous words expressing Nordic cooperation and a brotherly feeling that the two sides together represented the Swedish kingdom that founded Nya Sverige in 1638? Actually it had to do with what the people in America who preceded Nya Sverige would call "burying the axe" and "smoking a pipe of peace." That is to say, the transoceanic chieftains of the palefaces brought to an end at the Shoreham Hotel a feud that had raged in public as well as behind the scenes for two years on two continents about who really had the right to celebrate the three-hundredth anniversary and in what manner it should be celebrated.
The antagonism had its source in basically different perspectives on the Swedish kingdom that had been dissolved in 1809. In Sweden people were unhesitatingly disposed to see unbroken national continuity through to modern times, even though it might be argued that the Sweden of the Bernadottes after 1809 was as much a new creation as was the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland. Moreover, after independence in 1917 the young republic of Finland was hypersensi­tive
in its relations with Sweden and what were regarded as Swedish high-handedness and Swedish interference in Finland's internal affairs. This sensitivity was to be seen in the polemics, for example, over the language issue, the detention of Paavo Nurmi, and the Åland question. From the historical point of view it was particularly a question of the extent to which Finland had been a distinct part of the old kingdom and whether the Finns had been subjugated. On the answers to such questions also depended the extent to which claims might also be made to the common traditions and history of the kingdom. Opinion was divided in Finland itself in these matters, as had become apparent in connection with the Gustav Adolf jubilee in 1932 when different groups took off from the battle of Lützen and, drawing on history and historical symbols, argued variously for minority rights, language consolidation and Nordic cooperation, fascistized nationalism, and pacifism.3
The tercentenary of the Nya Sverige colony roiled ancient waters in the history of the old Swedish kingdom, particularly as to what extent the various regions of the kingdom and various folk groups had participated in the founding of the colony. Sweden could lay claim to its past as a great power and to its colonial enterprises; the question was what part Finland had played in them. There was, however, only minimal interest taken in seeking the historic truth as such, for other considerations asserted themselves. Both government and business were openly desirous of making themselves known in the United States; their primary concern was to call attention to the part played by one's country in the creation of the American tradition. For Swedish Americans and Finnish Americans also it was of the utmost importance to emphasize that their history extended back to Nya Sverige and the founding of the first colonies; their contribution to the founding of the United States was to be distin-guished from that of latecomers. Nya Sverige thus became primarily a symbol, a prototypical example of an invented tradition.4
Earlier Celebrations
The Swedes for their part assumed in the mid-1930s that the celebration was clearly to be regarded as Swedish, a matter of interest to Swedish Americans and to Sweden. That stance was, however, relatively new; Sweden had not taken note officially of earlier celebrations. The Historical Society in Delaware (founded 1864) celebrated in 1874 the 175th anniversary of the dedication of the Church of the Holy Trinity, "Old Swedes' Church," in Wilmington. At that time a statement was issued which was submitted by Senator T. F. Bayard on behalf of the society to the Swedish-Norwegian embassy for further transmittal to the Swedish king. The statement made reference to the ancient connection between Delaware and Sweden, the contributions of early Swedish colonists to civic and religious freedom, as well as their peaceful relations with the Indians. The society had in addition appointed a committee that had prepared a proposal for a monument to be raised at "The Rocks," the place where the Swedes had come ashore. The Swedish embassy, which at that time happened to be headed by a Norwegian, was of the opinion that the mother country hardly had any interest in "erecting monuments at places where its colonials had settled in remote times and in remote lands." The Swedish foreign ministry adopted the same negative view. On Swedish-American initiative, a memorial tablet was erected at the place in 1903.5
Nor had Sweden participated in the Nya Sverige celebration in 1888 when great crowds assembled under the auspices of Swedish-American organizations for festivities in Minneapolis. In Sweden emigration was still regarded negatively, a bloodletting of the nation, whereas Swedish Americans, at a time when hostility toward immigrants had sharpened, made use of the celebration to point out that Swedes were one of the colonial peoples of America. The intention also was to award the Swedes their deserved place in United States history and to establish unbroken historical continuity by representing Swedish immigration of the nineteenth century as a continuation of colonial enterprise during the seventeenth century.
At the celebration, which brought together previously antagonistic groups among the Swedish Americans, the virtues of the early Swedish colonists were especially emphasized: their strong commit-ment to religion and to personal and political freedom. These virtues were represented as being typical also of Swedish immigrants 250 years later, thereby linking "the Swedish-American people" with the colonists. The latter thus served as a means of creating a Swedish-American ethnic identity and of projecting a positive picture of their particular group to the population as a whole.6
The Nya Sverige celebration of 1888 opened the way for a long series of historical festivities, such as the erection of a statue to Linnaeus in Chicago in 1891, the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Augustana Synod in 1910, and the unveiling of a monument to John Ericsson in Washington in 1926. Even though Sweden had not taken note officially of the celebration in 1888, attitudes toward Swedish America were beginning to shift as emigration declined, as became apparent, for example, in the official visit of Archbishop Nathan Söderblom in 1923 and of the crown prince and princess in 19267
Swedish Preparations
Swedish preparations for the celebration, the Swedes later maintained, had been initiated as early as 1926 with the foundation of the American Sons and Daughters of Sweden and the John Morton Memorial Museum, later called the Swedish American Historical Museum. The preparations, however, did not make headway until the 1930s and then were plainly under the direction of representatives from Sweden, even though they preferred to remain in the back­ground.
In January 1935 the Sweden-America Foundation and its chairman Sigfrid Edström proposed to the foreign ministry that the celebration should be observed in a worthy manner, and that this would require a definite organization and official cooperation, for which reasons a committee should be established. In his report on the proposal the Swedish ambassador in Washington, Wollmar Boström, concurred and added that he had prevailed upon Swedish organizations in America to arrange for a meeting where it had been determined to set up committees to prepare for the celebration. The chairman of the general committee was Francis T. Plym of Michigan and Colonel Oscar Solbert for the executive committee. The historian Amandus Johnson was given important duties as secretary. The organization was to be known as the Swedish-American Tercentenary Association and was legally registered in the summer of 1936.8 In a personal letter to Foreign Minister Sandler, Bostrom suggest­ed
that a collection be made in Sweden for a gift to the museum from the nation, such as a statue or bust of Gustav II Adolf, and that a publication be prepared to call attention to the significance of the first colonists and of the later contribution of the immigrants to the development of America. Bostrom played an important role in the background not only with respect to mobilizing Swedish-American support of the celebration but also in publishing an essay in which he set forth his views of the event. He made reference to the celebration in Massachusetts in 1920 of the tercentenary of the arrival of the Pilgrims, the tercentenary in Maryland in 1934 of the arrival of the English Catholics, and to the forthcoming celebration by Harvard in 1936 of its founding. In Boström's view the Nya Sverige celebration was part of this series. Just as the English had laid the foundations for European civilization in New England, Maryland, and Virginia, and the Dutch in the Hudson River Valley, so had the Swedes in the Delaware River Valley in an area that included portions of the later states of New Jersey, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Bostrom yoked early and late emigration with the fatherland:
Thus Sweden was a founder of one of the thirteen states and made permanent settlements in three others so that together with England and the Netherlands she became one of the three European mother countries of the great American union . . . Together we shall then celebrate three hundred years of Swedish achievements on American soil... The new stock can join hands with the old and the proud mother country is prepared to do its share.9
The Official Invitation
The position taken within the foreign ministry was that a prerequisite for official Swedish participation would be that "the celebration must receive official American sanction and that an invitation bearing some form of official seal be transmitted to Sweden;" the crown prince was of the same opinion and declared himself prepared under this condition to act as sponsor for a Swedish committee.10 With the support of Steinhardt, the American ambassa­dor
in Stockholm, Bostrom worked energetically to secure an invitation. He called upon the State Department, which was favorably disposed but preferred out of consideration for Congress that the initiative come from Capitol Hill. Boström therefore directed his next efforts toward having the Swedish-American committee urge leading senators and representatives from Pennsylvania and Delaware to sponsor a directive from Congress to the State Department to issue an official invitation. Boström invited the senators and representatives to dinner in February 1936 and could proudly report their enthusias­tic
support for two draft resolutions to go before Congress, one concerning an official invitation to Sweden, the other concerning the minting of a medal for the celebration: "I am attempting privately to hurry along the acceptance of these drafts so that the official invitation may soon make its appearance."11
The draft resolution, which was presented in February 1936, referred to preparations being made in Delaware, which in March 1935 had adopted a resolution and appointed a committee, and in Pennsylvania, where historical associations had formed a committee to make preparations for the celebration. The resolution intended that the president authorize his proxies to issue an invitation to the Swedish government and join the administration of the United States and its people in participating in "a fitting and appropriate obser­vance
of the three-hundredth anniversary of the first permanent settlement of Swedish colonists in Delaware, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey." It was further proposed that a "United States Delaware Valley Tercentenary Commission" be formed consisting of five members designated by the president, five by the Senate, and five by the House of Representatives. The resolution was adopted in June 1936, and the official invitation was extended in July to the Swedish foreign minister, who could report in September that his government had accepted it.12
Even though the invitation was delayed, Boström had recommend­ed
early on that a Swedish committee be set up to make preparations for participating in the celebration. It was decided in Stockholm to delay the appointment of an official committee until the invitation was in hand but nevertheless to assign some persons to deal with the question. Two conferences also were held in May 1936 under the leadership of the foreign minister and Undersecretary Günther to discuss the proposals that had been made.13 Most of them were accepted in principle, but one was quickly rejected. The Swedish Americans wanted a replica of the Kalmar Nyckel to be built for a voyage across the Atlantic. On this point, however, a negative view had been taken at the preliminary negotiations in Stockholm: It was stated that if in response to an official invitation Sweden were to participate in the celebration, concerning which no conflicting views ought to be held, the participation ought to concentrate on representing what Sweden is today, and efforts to that end must not be divided over a picturesque notion of particularly dubious value. In this connection it was recalled that the Norwegian viking ships, the Spanish and French galleons that had been reconstructed at great cost and had been sent to America at various times of celebration, had had little significance and had been quickly forgotten.14
When the invitation arrived, the matter moved quickly forward. It was decided to appoint a large committee and a smaller working group. In early September the establishment of a 33-member Bestyrelsen för firandet av Nya Sverige-minnet (Steering Committee for the Commemoration of Nya Sverige) was announced with Edstrom as chairman. Included were five members of parliament, a number of major officials, the chancellors of the national universities (among them the three historians Sven Tunberg, Curt Weibull, and Martin Nilsson), the national archivist, the national librarian, and the national antiquarian. In addition to the chairman, business was represented by the Swedish-American Line's executive director A. Jonsson, directors H. Nilsson (Svenska Cellulosaföreningen), A. R. Nordvall, A. Rinman, J. Wallenberg, and A. Wenner-Gren. The Steering Committee held its first meeting 16 September at which time the foreign minister, Undersecretary Günther, Ambassador Bostrom, and Dr. Amandus Johnson were present. Count Folke Bernadotte was named vice-chairman, and to the working group were appointed in addition to the chairman and vice-chairman Foreign Secretary Fritz Henriksson and Consul General O. Lamm (Foreign Ministry, general secretary), directors Jonsson, Nordvall, Wallenberg (treasurer), and Wenner-Gren as well as Mrs. Maja Sandler. After intensive preparations the Steering Committee was prepared in December to turn to the government with a plan and a budget request amounting in all to 365,000 kronor.
By and large the formation of the Steering Committee received good press; several papers voiced their annoyance, however, that the name of the organization began unpatriotically with a Danicism.16 Several papers also looked beyond the cultural objectives that had been advanced. Aftonbladet observed that the celebration could augment knowledge of Sweden in the United States "and what this in turn could signify for Swedish industry and Swedish business need hardly be said." Dagens Nyheter emphasized the same aspects:
Evidently Sweden has not had in three hundred years such an unusual opportunity to make conquests on American soil, to consolidate the "goodwill" that we have recently gained within influential and enterprising circles—and from this point of view the celebration in Delaware is as though made to order. It will be not merely a local event or something of genealogical interest to Swedish descendants, but to all of America—publ­icity
of sweeping significance.17
The National Monument
The question of a monument appeared from the beginning to be the most vexing one in the Steering Committee's plans. Ambassador Boström clung to his suggestion of a statue of Gustav II Adolf and noted that Carl Milles had been commissioned several years earlier by the John Morton Memorial Museum to prepare a sketch for such a monument. Colonel Solbert pointed out, however, that a statue of the great king "has its drawbacks."18
At the Steering Committee's first meeting Dr. Johnson spelled out what the matter signified by saying that it was desirable to erect a statue but wondered whether it was suitable to have it portray Gustav II Adolf inasmuch as Catholics, who made up a third of Philadelphia's population, would possibly oppose erecting a statue in honor of the foremost champion of Lutheranism. Boström felt that they should not exaggerate the risk of mischievous damage. In reply to a question, Dr. Johnson noted that the statue would not be the first of a royal personage erected in the United States, but this precedent would scarcely lend comfort to the doubtful since the predecessor was a statue of Frederick the Great that had stood in Washington until the entrance of the United States in the world war. The matter was not made any simpler when it turned out that Milles' sketch represented the king in a kneeling position. An equestrian statue would more suitably represent "the king as the ruler who founded the colony of Nya Sverige." The working committee found "this point of view deserving of consideration," but decided later that "above all the statue should not assume a religious character that would encourage demonstrations from the Catholic faction."19
Faced with these difficulties the committee began to cast about for other alternatives, for example a neutral granite obelisk with reliefs or a "viking bautasten" (menhir). Whereas the proposed statue of the heroic king would have been located in Philadelphia, the intention was to erect the obelisk or bautasten at the place where the Swedes came ashore, as had already been suggested earlier by Solbert. This location, "The Rocks" in Wilmington, already had a memorial but was industrialized, and to a visiting Swedish journalist it had appeared in 1936 to be "a particularly unkempt place." For all that, Bostrom began to press for the existing plans for a New Sweden Memorial Park.20
The question of what form the monument should take was, however, still undecided. The American committee reported that it preferred an obelisk or bautasten whereas Milles regarded an obelisk as old-fashioned and scarcely Swedish and instead proposed the vessel Kalmar Nyckel carved out of a block of black granite and placed on a base of the same material. Further investigation revealed, however, that the proposal was technically not possible since a block of the proposed size was not to be found nor could it have been transported. When the earlier suggestions were once again reviewed and other artists contacted, Milles came forward with yet another suggestion, a round column of granite from Bohuslän with a ship on top. When Bostrom then announced that the proposed area would be placed at their disposal, a decision could be made in the beginning of 1937 concerning this monument.21
Before that point was reached, however, a number of suggestions had been advanced, many of them publicly since Stockholms-Tidningen had announced a contest in November 1936. The contest elicited a number of suggestions that revealed a broadly ecumenical Swedish taste and with elements from various times; the suggestions included, for example, a statue of a Swedish pioneer in the company of an Indian, a viking in granite, scholarships for language study, a Swedish farmstead, and "a column in Swedish granite with Greta Garbo in relief as Mother Svea."22
The intention was that the monument would be a gift from the Swedish people, and the Steering Committee set in motion prepara­tions
for a national collection. It was determined to arrange for col­lections
in the provinces with the governors heading the local committees. Prime Minister Hansson accepted the post of chairman for the collection committee whereupon the governor general and provincial governors were assembled for a conference in Stockholm. At that time a clear majority of the provincial governors spoke against the project making reference to the high cost of living, apathy with respect to such collections, and other considerations. Some stated plainly that it would be difficult to interest the general public in this memorial; Governor von Schneidern was of the opinion that "the connection between Sweden of today and the tercentenary now to be celebrated would be slight," while Governor Falck wondered if the committee ought not to investigate some means of celebrating other than to erect an obelisk in America for which it would be difficult to arouse public enthusiasm. Edström stated afterwards that "strong opposition prevailed" among the provincial governors, but with the prime minister's backing the plan was approved. After Prince Wilhelm as well as the crown prince participated in drawing up an appeal, it was inaugurated with the crown prince as the first signer, followed by ministers of the government, the foreign ministry, and the social ministry as well as all the provincial governors; the collection was initiated by Prime Minister Hansson in a speech given on the radio.23
Remaining Plans
At an early stage the wish had been expressed on the part of Swedish Americans as well as the participating states that the crown prince and crown princess take part in the celebration. So that the representatives of the royal house might arrive in befitting style it was determined that they should travel on the Swedish-American Line and at the mouth of the Delaware River embark upon a Swedish warship that would then sail up the river to Wilmington.24
As early as the summer of 1936 additional strategies were being planned. In June Colonel Solbert proposed that a coin be minted for the occasion, for example, a coin worth three kronor (300 öre for 300 years); the proposal was altered later to four kronor (one daler). What was unusual in this proposal arises from the fact that coins of this sort had been minted only a few times before: in honor of Gustav Vasa, 1721,1821, and 1921; in honor of Gustav II Adolf, 1932; and to honor the parliament, 1936. The mint had misgivings and instead suggested two kronor (a half riksdaler), whereas the National Bank regarded the shortage of small coins to be so severe that the produc­tivity
of the mint ought not to be diverted to other purposes. The Steering Committee also took up at an early stage the possibility of a postage stamp, later expanded to a whole series with themes taken from the history of Nya Sverige.25
As early as the preparatory meetings held in May 1936, it had beers proposed that a brochure be published to shed light on Swedish contributions to the United States as well as a series of short monographs on Sweden's cultural and economic life, in addition to lecture tours by Swedish scientists in the United States. At an early stage thought was also given to exhibitions in the United States; during the autumn of 1936 a proposal was crystallized regarding two such: an art exhibit and an historical exhibit on Nya Sverige and Swedish contributions to the United States.26 Other suggestions that were put forward during the autumn were to purchase the Swedish church in Wilmington and donate it to the Augustana Synod; an "all-Swedish" travel group to make the journey from Sweden to the United States during the celebration; and the encouragement of correspondence between Swedish and American schoolchildren. Riksföreningen för svenskhetens bevarande i utlandet (The National Society for the Preservation of Swedish Culture in Foreign Lands) also drew up certain measures apropos of the celebration, including "campaigning among the Swedes in America" to strengthen Swedish culture in America and the ties between Swedish-American organiza­tions
and Sweden itself.27
Interest arose in America, too, in strengthening contacts with Sweden in connection with the celebration. Governor George H. Earle of Pennsylvania planned to issue a proclamation and wanted to set up a monument in Göteborg marking the departure of the first Swedish ships. Sweden was visited also during the summer of 1936 by Ormond Rambo, a descendant of the first colonists, who made plans for a voyage to Sweden by descendants of the Swedish colonists.28
Enter Finland
By February 1937 the Swedish preparations were moving along well. They were indeed almost overly organized as plans advanced at a quick pace in both the public and private sectors. In the United States a number of Swedish-American committees were at work; a national collection was in progress in Sweden. The tercentenary of Nya Sverige was on the way to becoming a vigorous Swedish presentation of modern Sweden in the United States and of the his­tory
of the country as well as its early contributions to America, thereby lending powerful support to Swedish-American aspirations. In the beginning of March 1937 the foreign ministry, however, re­ceived
a disquieting telegram from Ambassador Boström in Washing-ton reporting that there was some risk that the invitation
might be extended to include Finland as well. I have privately attempted to bring a halt to this in the relevant committees since the colony was founded exclusively under Swedish sovereignty. The question now seems to have been taken up once more and the State Department intends to request a statement from the American minister in Stockholm. [It is] of highest importance that this be rejected.29
The United States ambassador discussed the question in Stockholm; according to what the foreign ministry understood of the matter he had sent a negative telegram but at the same time had said that one never knew what "those politicians" might come up with. At the same time Foreign Minister Henriksson received a visit from Consul Tarjanne of the Finnish legation, who asked to be informed of Swedish preparations. He admitted freely that nothing more was known in Helsinki than that a proposal had been laid before Congress; he himself thought that at most there could be a question only of representation by means of a small group, if any participation took place at all.30
To the dynamic Boström in Washington, this looked as though an unexpected and unwelcome guest had intruded at a table already set; considering that Sweden had in fact invited itself to the party, his resentment was scarcely justified. The question of Finland's partici­pation
did not, however, come as a complete surprise. Boström had already reported in the fall about the law that Pennsylvania had passed in July 1936 on the subject of the celebration. It expressly made clear that the state was to conduct the celebration in coopera­tion
with the governments of the United States, Sweden, and Finland.31 In addition, the Steering Committee in Stockholm had received a reminder from Professor Georg von Wendt in Finland. In his book Vårt svenskfolk i Amerika (Our Swedish People in America, 1922) he had asserted that Finns had made up a large minority of the colony and that many of them had considered Swedish Österbotten to be their home. The Steering Committee was strongly opposed in principle:
Within the working group of the Steering Committee for the Celebration of Nya Sverige we have already discussed the problem of Finland but are unanimous in the belief that it must be present-day Sweden that is to be represented at the ceremonies in the Delaware River Valley, just as it was the
Sweden in existence at the time that sent forth the first colonists. Sweden at that time did not include Blekinge, Skåne, Halland, or Bohuslän, but today these provinces are important parts of Sweden, and many of the representatives who will be participating are in fact from Skåne, including the prime minister of Sweden.32
That is to say, if Per Albin Hansson could not take part, neither strictly speaking could the Bernadottes if one were to be historically correct as von Wendt's statement insinuated.
The question of Finland's participation in the celebration proceed­ed
thereafter on two levels, in part on the diplomatic one where emissaries of both countries in Washington attempted to conduct their activities out of public view, and in part in the form of pressure from Swedish and Finnish Americans on the State Department and Congress.
The problem was resolved, or so it appeared at the time, by Pennsylvania's decision to invite Finland. Frank Melvin, chairman of the state's historical commission, stated in a letter to the ambassador from Finland that he had drawn up a legislative resolution to that effect, his reasoning being that Sweden and Finland were united three hundred years earlier and that about a third of the colonists had come from Finland.33
Just like the invitation to Sweden, Pennsylvania's invitation was not as spontaneous as it first seemed. In a confidential private letter to the editor of Suomen Kuvalehti Finland's ambassador Eero Järnefelt complained that the paper on several occasions had criticized Finland's deputation in Washington for not having taken care to have Finland invited to participate in the Delaware celebration. He also related how Pennsylvania's invitation had come about. As early as May 1936 he had proposed the erection of a granite statue at the place where the Finns had landed. During the summer Finnish Americans—that is to say, a group around Pastor Salomon Ilmonen and the Finnish-American Historical Society—had decided, however, to postpone the celebration until 1941 since the first clear documen­tary
sources with respect to the Finns dated from 1641. In that same summer Swedish representatives in Congress had arranged for the invitation to Sweden. The Finns lacked representatives in Congress nor had they been invited to take part in the preparations that had been set in motion by the powerful Swedish-American organizations. On a visit to Philadelphia Järnefelt had made the acquaintance of Governor Earle and brought the part played by the Finns in the colonization into discussion, and that had then led to the invitation from Pennsylvania. The invitation had given Järnefelt the opportunity once again to address the State Department and inquire how it had come about that Congress had invited only Sweden to be represented at a celebration to which Finland had been invited by the State of Pennsylvania; he stated that he was not disposed to forward the invitation to his government before he could assure it that it was a question of an oversight that would be corrected. The relevant division of the State Department reported that it would look into the matter but from the start let Järnefelt understand that Congress would be requested to amend its resolution so as to empower the president to extend an invitation also to Finland. In February a motion to that effect was placed before Congress, and it was this that had provoked Boström's reaction.34
Flanking support for Finland's participation was now supplied by Finnish Americans, who were highly indignant that people in Finland either did not care or did not know about the Finnish role in Nya Sverige; according to New Yorkin Uutiset the Finns had cleared most of the land in the colony while the Swedes had assumed the role of squire.35 Under the pressure of the Swedish preparations the initiative was transferred from the group around Ilmonen to a new association of Finnish-American leaders who convened in New York and in short order were organized as the American-Finnish Delaware Tercentenary Committee. Included in it were Professor John Wuorinen (Columbia), John Saari, treasurer, and above all the highly influential Emil Hurja, a personal friend of and advisor to President Roosevelt and Postmas­ter
Farley's right-hand man in the Democratic presidential campaign of 1936. The group took as its purpose to secure an official invitation to Finland and to lend to the Finnish aspect of the celebration a distinct character to show that it had not been drowned out in the highly organized Swedish plans for the celebration. The committee received official support from Finland when its prime minister, A. K. Cajander, agreed to act as honorary chairman.36
Swedish Opposition
A prerequisite for the efforts of Finnish Americans was that the official invitation be expanded to include Finland, and for this Hurja's contacts in Congress played an important part. Afterwards Hurja pointed out that opposition did not come so much from the Swedish government as from "the misguided Jealousy of American Swedes, resentful that Finland had the temerity to ask a right to its place in the sun . . ."37 Hurja's conception of the restraint exercised by the Swedish government and its representatives was, however, correct only in part.
The first reactions in Stockholm were restrained; even while Foreign Minister Henriksson took note of the fact that the American ambassador in Stockholm opposed an invitation to Finland, he made the point that Sweden should not meddle in the matter; should serious interest to participate emerge in Finland, there was nothing to do other than welcome it. Steinhardt had also engaged in discussions with the foreign minister, who had said that from the Swedish point of view there were no impediments even if "practical and protocol difficulties" could be foreseen. This was at best a way of declining without saying no, as Steinhardt's report confirms. He considered the reply to be the government's formal position but reported that he had reason to suppose that an invitation to Finland "would produce an undertone of irritation if not open resentment as well as practical difficulties." The Swedish Delaware committee had rejected earlier the offer of assistance from Finland. The persons he had spoken with had declared that it would be just as logical to invite the Baltic states to attend since they, too, were a part of Sweden in the seventeenth century. In addition he had been given to understand that any effort to provide a place for Finnish represen­tation
would give rise to national and personal jealousy and intensify the language conflict in Finland.38 Regardless of the foreign ministry's official position Ambassador Bostrom did not suppose himself prevented from becoming engaged in intensive lobbying in company with the Swedish-American leaders.
At the end of March Bostrom submitted his report on how this troublesome situation had arisen. According to him, Järnefelt had misunderstood Pennsylvania's invitation and had applied to the wrong section in the State Department, which then, without consult­ing
other sections, had requested McReynolds, chairman of the foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives, to move an amendment. Bostrom was annoyed that he could not take action openly: "Now when we have such good rapport with Finland it would be most undesirable" to try to obtain the cooperation of the State Department to reject the motion. It would also be difficult for the State Department to say no to the Finnish ambassador "especially now when Finland is the fair-haired boy of the United States." Boström's reasoning was straightforward:
We were all quite upset over here for it would look exceed­ingly
strange if Finland, which was after all only a Swedish province of the same sort as Estonia and Livonia and others, were to be invited to this purely Swedish celebration of its colonial activities, which were after all undertaken entirely under Swedish sovereignty even if some from Finland may have joined in.39
The State Department for its part decided to "let sleeping dogs lie" and not do anything in behalf of the resolution that the Republican congressman Pehr G. Holmes, the only Swedish-born member of Congress and secretary of the Federal Committee on the Celebration, had succeeded in having tabled in the foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives. It would be painful to have to explain the ministry's position to Järnefelt, but in the long run that would be better than to come to blows with the Swedes. Boström consequently was hopeful: "I now believe, however, that the matter is buried in the foreign affairs committee and that the State Department, in case the Finnish ambassador should call the matter to his attention, will quite simply pass the blame on to Congress."40
The United States' Fair-Haired Boy
Boström's comment about Finland as the fair-haired boy of the United States referred to its punctual repayments of its indebtedness to the United States at a time when all other debtors had ceased payment since 1933. It is well known how this secured enormous goodwill for Finland. The matter was very much alive in the middle of the 1930s and had its effect also on the invitation to the Delaware celebration. Finland's delegation in Washington was able time and again to report on the popularity that the country enjoyed; it was especially high on 15 June and 15 December when the installments on all the billions of dollars owed by the European countries fell due. It was then that attention was directed to the fact that it was the smallest and youngest country to fulfill its obligations; thus, for example Senator Vandenberg in a speech on Finland's independence day 1935 and Congressman Knutson from Minnesota in 1937 in the Senate: "all honor to little Finland, the country poorest in resources but richest in her sacred word of honor."41 Payment of the debt made Finland popular. President Roosevelt said to the Finnish ambassador that he was proud of Finland, and in his welcome to the Finnish festivities in New York 1937 Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia extolled Paavo Nurmi and the reparation payments. Finland also placed well in a questionnaire about which countries Americans liked best of all (in fourth place after England, France, and Germany).42 When the school ship Suomen Joutsen put in at New York harbor in March 1937, newspapers carried headlines like "Debt Payer Comes." In the summer of 1939 Congressman Allen put before the Congress a proposal that a memorial plaque be set up in Washington to honor Finland.43
If the matter of an invitation to the celebration in Delaware were successful, the Swedish foreign service would have difficulties stopping "the spunky little debt payer," but it faced still another dilemma. Enthusiasm for a new guest was very slight, but inasmuch as Finland had adopted a Nordic orientation in its foreign policy that was satisfactory to Sweden though decidedly not yet stabilized, it was best to proceed carefully. This was how Hjalmar Procopé looked on the matter:
I would regard it as particularly unfortunate if it should develop that the exclusion of Finland stemmed from measures taken by Swedish Americans or if it left the overall impression that Sweden and Finland had not wanted to get together in this matter. With much satisfaction and gratitude I note therefore what you write about Ambassador Boström's position in this matter. — For my part I hoped that it could be ar­ranged.
In any case we must try to avoid any appearance that Swedes stood in the way of Finland's participation. It would have a highly adverse effect on public sentiment in Scandina­via—
never mind that the entire matter is not of any great practical significance.44
Procopé as managing director of Finska Papperbruksföreningen and earlier as foreign minister had a sense of both the significance of the celebration and the threat to Nordic cooperation, and his comments amounted to a direct warning. He was assured that Ambassador Bostrom "had nothing whatever to do" with the failure of the House of Representatives to invite Finland. Later the Swedes, in the words of Foreign Minister Henriksson, sought to assure Finland that they "had meticulously refrained from any sort of interference" in the matter. Henriksson at the same time emphasized that "regarding the celebration there must under no circumstances seem to be even a trace of any conflict of interest of any sort between Sweden and Finland."45
Lobbying
Behind the scenes the reality was another, and to top it all the home front was not as unanimous as Boström had wished. When he read in the newspapers that Nils Ahnlund had referred in a lecture to Nya Sverige as a penal colony and had cited the conspicuous part taken by Finns, the dismayed ambassador aired his frustrations in a furious letter to Foreign Minister Henriksson in Stockholm:
The former is exceedingly unsuitable just now and would unnecessarily wound Swedish Americans if it should become known here. The latter gives Finns grist for their mill in their effort to be included, as I have telegraphed and written.
I cannot understand how a man of Professor Ahnlund's position can use so little judgment as to come out just now with these dark sides of the matter when the Crown Prince, Government, Parliament and people are so warmly embracing the tercentenary and have wanted to strike a blow for Swedes in the U.S.A. Even if other nationalities took part it was entirely under Swedish sovereignty, and if there were any Finns present they were just like people from Dalecarlia and Småland, Swedish subjects. And to come out now with talk about the colony as a place for criminals is as unsuitable as it can possibly be.46
Ahnlund's lecture also aroused attention in Sweden. Edström, speaking before the Merchants Club of Stockholm, specifically argued against the professor: the colony had not been "a miserable tale," but "a great feat in Swedish history." It had left deep impressions; any part played by the Dutch or the Finns did not alter this fact. In reply, Ahnlund emphasized his obligation as an historian and insisted that he simply had defined quite objectively "the real dimensions of the colonization enterprise and its true nature regardless of the spirit that may be thought desirable in connection with the pending celebra­tion."
47
Boström
state
d frankly in May 1937 that he presumed that "it is in accord with the government's wish that without being obvious I renew efforts to hinder the matter." The reply stated only that the foreign minister had said to the American ambassador that Sweden would not be opposed. It was not until the middle of August that the foreign ministry informed its delegation in Washington in plain language not to engage in measures concerning the issue.48
Several days earlier, however, Per Wijkman, the Swedish charge d'affaires while Bostrom was on vacation, had been quite unrestrained in accosting the protocol section of the State Department. He maintained that he had done his best to persuade Swedish-American congressmen to exercise restraint in case the matter came up in the House of Representatives, but that he feared the consequences of an acrimonious debate if it should occur. It would be best therefore if the matter could be tabled during the current session of Congress. If the resolution went through, it would "bring forth protests from Swedish Americans and result in great disappointment in Sweden." In consequence the protocol section suggested that it should be confi­dentially
hinted to the chairman of the foreign affairs committee or its spokesman "that some excuse of legislative procedure be found to prevent the bill coming up at this session." The chairman of the foreign affairs committee promised to do what he could. This course of action was approved by Secretary of State Hull.49
In short, Stockholm allowed the delegation in Washington to continue its lobbying for some time; nor did the seemingly neutral position taken by the Swedish government inhibit the Swedish Americans. Solbert and Holmes called on Secretary of State Hull, but the State Department was of the opinion that it would be exceedingly difficult to stop the resolution if it were to come from the foreign affairs committee.50
Congressional Action
The motion for the resolution had passed unanimously in the Senate in April 1937.51 The foreign affairs committee of the House of Representatives had rejected it in February, but it later arranged a public hearing at which Wuorinen and Saari were able to set forth their historical arguments (including the fact that a third of the colonists had been Finns). The committee later required that the states involved—Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware—request that the earlier resolution be expanded to include Finland. Two of the states assented at once; the governor of Delaware at first promised his support but retracted it later since he had promised the * celebration committee of his state not to interfere. Emil Hurja's estimation of the committee's secretary was plain: "Mr. Ward I have discovered is distinctly under the dominance of the Sweden group, he is utterly selfish and unwilling to give the Finns a 'break' in any­thing."
52
The Finnish Americans also exerted pressure on the State Department especially after it became known that the ministry was an accessory to the resolution's defeat in the foreign affairs commit­tee.
The Finnish Americans advanced the historical arguments but also pointed out that after the publicity the matter had received it would be taken as a snub to Finland and Finnish Americans if the resolution did not go through. In his demand that the resolution be tabled, it was argued, Holmes had not denied that the Delaware colony had been founded by Swedes and Finns together, but he had other motives:
His objections were based on specious reasons. He is not interested in facts and justice to Finland; he wants the whole credit and honor emanating from the colonization and celebra­tion
to go to Swedes and Sweden and our Government to ignore the Finns and Finland, the co-founders of the colony. I am sure that our Government will not be a party to any such selfish scheme.53
Hull replied that after careful consideration it had been determined that the department could not intervene in a question that fell within the purview of the Congress. At the same time, however, reports were reaching the department concerning the difficulties that the unextended invitation was giving rise to in Helsinki, where there was astonishment and hard feeling that the invitation had not been extended.54
The Finnish Americans succeeded in getting the resolution through the foreign affairs committee. In the House of Representa­tives
the committee's report was presented by Congressman Allen of Pennsylvania. The argumentation in Finland's behalf drew for its support upon Amandus Johnson's books; he was identified as one of the prime movers in the Swedish preparations for the celebration. The report underscored Finland's position as an integral part of the Swedish kingdom and noted that at least a third and probably more of the colonists were Finns.55
In the House of Representatives, where the matter was taken up during the last day of the session, the debate became at first a duel between Allen and Holmes. In addition to the historical arguments Allen
no
w also cited others:
We are extending the invitation to a nation that has been very friendly to the United States in recent years, and whose sense of honor and responsibility stands out above all others in the payment of its national debt to us. ... It is not going to detract from the glory of Sweden in any respect. It is merely extending a little recognition to Finland.56
It was difficult for Holmes to stand in opposition to this kind of argumentation. He emphasized that he had nothing against Finland, quite the contrary, but also he stressed the extensive Swedish preparations and observed that Finland three hundred years ago was a Swedish province and that colonization had occurred under Swedish sovereignty and the Swedish flag; many other nationalities besides the Finns had taken part in the expeditions—the argumenta­tion
hearkens back to that of Bostrom and Solbert. He pointed out in addition that the government of Finland had not expressed any desire to take part, but that it was "some Finnish-American people who have been very active in wanting to participate." Holmes suggested that the United States ought to honor Finland in some other fashion.57 Holmes was fighting, however, a losing battle when payment of the reparations came into the picture. Congressman Frank E. Hook, who represented an area of Michigan with many Finnish voters, stat­ed
that the Finns during all the years they were an integral part of the Swedish kingdom had retained their separate nationality and had now become a nation respected by all leading countries in the world:
There is one thing that is paramount in that country, and that is the integrity they have kept with themselves throughout their entire history, the integrity they have kept with the world, and with this country today [applause]. It is the only nation that has paid its debt to the United States [applause], and in recognition of that fact alone they should be given a right to participate in this celebration.58
The following speaker, Congressman Thomas of New Jersey, laid it on even thicker when he arose in support of the governor of his own state:
I support him because I think the people of Finland should be invited to every celebration that is held in the United States [applause]. If there is one country in the world that we should invite
t
o a celebration or that we should have a special celebration for, it Is Finland. They are an incentive to the whole world, they are an example to the whole world, and they have certainly shown us that if there is one country in this world friendly to the United States, it is Finland, by having paid its obligations to us on the day they were due, and I hope this resolution passes [applause].59
Faced with the applause and the view that Finland ought to be a permanent guest in the United States, nothing much remained for Holmes other than to yield to the pressures that the resolution should be passed unanimously.
Reactions
The outcome aroused both disappointment and bitterness within the administration of the Swedish foreign ministry and the organiza­tion
for the celebration. Frank Dearing, the new American ambassa­dor
in Stockholm, reported that Finnish participation
would cause complications, reduce Swedish participation to a merely correct and formal gesture and practically nullify our efforts to create more cordial relations and make the occasion a compliment to Sweden and to people of Swedish descent in the United States.60
He also provided a glimpse of the mood during the numerous conferences in Stockholm, which was clearly marked by plummeting enthusiasm and irresolution:
Sandler, I learn, is particularly anxious not to offend the Finnish Government and is inclined to do nothing; Boström has no solution; Edström and Lamm betray the Swedish feeling by the very firm assertion that if the Crown Prince attends the celebrations he must at all ceremonies take precautions, a presage of possible unfortunate incidents.61
In Stockholm it was plain enough who was responsible: "overzealous Americans of Finnish origin have been influencing the action of state governors who they feel have acted from local considerations and have lost sight of international aspects." Dearing thought that it was believed or hoped in Sweden that Finland would withdraw, and he suggested that Hull should have a conversation with Järnefelt to become informed about the matter and try to have Finland "perform an act of outstanding international value by leaving the celebration which is for the Swedes to the Swedes."
Before the resolution received the force of law it still had to be approved by President Roosevelt. In his letter of transmittal Hull stated that it was unfortunate that a question dealing with sensitive points involving two countries well disposed to one another should have arisen at all, but he summarized his chilly analysis for the president's secretaries:
I told Mr. McIntyre that if the resolution were vetoed by the President, the White House might expect a protest from Finnish-American groups and that if the President approved the resolution, they might expect some correspondence from Swedish-American societies. On balance, the State Department felt that since Congress had passed the resolution it would probably be better for the President to sign the resolution rather than to veto it.62
Nor did Hull suppose that anything would be won by applying pressure on Finland, as Dearing had suggested, even if one might hope that Finland would not accept the invitation. It was presented as neutrally as possible in Helsinki, or as the American ambassador reported: "I did not dwell on the degree of cordiality with which the invitation was extended but confined myself to such general ex­pressions
as were indispensable in the circumstances."63
The State Department was disposed to remain neutral in the matter, but as has been shown above, sentiment favored Sweden. Evidently it accepted the historical analysis that Bostrom had taken every occasion to present rather than that urged by the Finnish Americans. For Bostrom it seemed self-evident that Finland could not lay claim to any continuity from the old Swedish kingdom. When the intensity of the Swedish opposition persisted, Finland was regarded in the State Department as a last-minute complication in the preparations for the celebration. H. C. Cumming was of the opinion that "the Swedes have been given a raw deal" and that through its interference Congress had inflamed an unfortunate prejudice. On the other hand, Bostrom was thought to have exaggerated the adverse effect that the presence of a few Finnish official representatives might have on the preparations that the Swedes had under way.64
Cumming's criticism was occasioned by an appeal that Bostrom made to President Roosevelt and Undersecretary of State Wells. He did this contrary to his own instructions not to register any official protest and made no secret of it when he emphasized that he was speaking "off the record." He declared to the president that Swedish Americans were "very much upset":
He said that the Finnish-Americans and the Finnish colony had not contributed a cent and had not taken any part in the preparation and that there was great resentment at the possibility that the Finns would take an equal part in these festivities when they had no valid reason for doing so.65
Preparations in Finland
News of the invitation to Finland was on the whole very posi­tively
received by the Finnish press. Hufvudstadsbladet regarded it as an expression of Finland's popularity in the United States, and several papers expressed their satisfaction that Finland had been invited on an equal basis with Sweden even if there was some question as to how Finland could compete with the comprehensive Swedish preparations. The nation's gratitude should, however, be shown through suitable participation. Several papers took note also of the prestige that the invitation lent to Finland and the recognition it signified. It also signified recognition of Finnish Americans and was of profound value as publicity.66 The flattering remarks con­cerning
Finland's repayments were repeated in several papers while some regarded it still more important that Finns and Finnish Americans as a people had received recognition for having been part of building up America.67
When information of a possible invitation to Finland reached Helsinki in February 1937 the prime minister's first act was to inform himself how Sweden expected to represent itself and what steps had already been taken. At this point a fairly modest participation by Finland was evidently being considered. Edström visited Finland and spoke with former minister Antti Hackzell, who did not believe that Finland should do more perhaps than to delegate Foreign Minister Holsti.68
Finland's participation, however, became far more comprehensive than these initial suggestions envisioned. The first steps were taken as early as the beginning of 1937, that is, even before the effort to invite Finland had begun. In line with a redirection by Finland of its foreign affairs, Dr. Rafael Engelberg had laid out in January 1937 in the presence among others of Prime Minister Kyösti Kallio and the Minister of Education Antti Kukkonen a twelve-part program. One part specified that the new organization called Suomi-Seura was to prepare a plan and indicate the means for Finland's participation in the celebration in Delaware. Somewhat later, Engelberg revealed that he had gathered his information for this proposal from Sweden as well as from Swedish Americans and Finnish Americans.69
The matter did not take on an official character until after Congress's action. The government delegated to a ministerial committee in the beginning of September 1937 the task of preparing for the celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the republic and also of Finland's participation in the tercentenary of the Delaware colony. In the meantime Suomi-Seura continued its preparations, in­cluding
contacts with Finnish Americans, and submitted in October to the government a comprehensive program for Finland's participa­tion
in the celebration. This included the appointment of a large delegation, cooperation with Finnish Americans to undertake an investigation concerning the Finns in Delaware, possibly by Professor John Wuorinen, and a monument, possibly by Eliel Saarinen, to the Finnish pioneers who had emigrated to the colony, to be placed in the old colonial cemetery. Furthermore the tour to be undertaken in America by the student chorus Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat should be tied in with the celebration; festivities should also be arranged in the homeland, and appropriate publications should be made available. Finally, the society's officers stated that the Delaware memorial ought to be given serious attention since it was of historic importance to the nation and strengthened extremely important ties of friendship abroad.70
In November 1937 the government appointed a committee with Minister of Education Hannula as chairman and Engelberg as secretary. The Post and Telegraph Department prepared plans for a tercentenary stamp to be used for international mail; its motif was the clearing of the land of stubble. As for the monument, the intention at first was that this should be arranged by Finnish Americans, but they asked Finland to attend to it. During a visit to Finland Hurja had conferred with Wäinö Aaltonen. Because time was short there could be no thought of either a national appeal for funds or a competition, and the government decided therefore that the monu­ment
should be ordered from Aaltonen at the expense of the nation.71
In January the government appointed an official Finnish delega­tion,
which assumed a decidedly political character. It was led by Foreign Minister Holsti, and its members consisted of two Social Democrats, of whom one was the speaker in parliament Väinö Hakkila, two members of parliament from Österbotten representing the Agrarian Party, and a female member from the Coalition Party. The Swedish-speaking population was represented by the editor-in-chief of Hufvudstadsbladet, Amos Andersson, and the Church by the director of the seamen's mission, Dr. Sigfrid Sirenius. Holsti also had been Hurja's candidate (with Mannerheim as a possible substitute); Holsti accepted only reluctantly, according to his own report, but felt he had to yield since there were in the government only two ministers who spoke English and the other of them, the Minister of Finance Väinö Tanner, was needed at home to work on the budget.72
The Swedish Preparations Proceed
The Finnish plans followed by and large the Swedish ones, which were proceeding according to the directions that had taken form for the most part in the autumn of 1936. The Swedish preparations did not, however, arouse the enthusiasm that the Delaware steering committee had hoped for. This became apparent for one thing in connection with the national appeal for funds when the misgivings of the provincial governors were confirmed. During the spring the Steering Committee was obliged to acknowledge that it had indeed obtained a good many signatories on the collection lists, but insuffi­cient
funds. When this information was transmitted in strict confidentiality to the governors with an appeal that they turn to wealthy citizens and industrial enterprises, they balked. Consequent­ly,
the Steering Committee had on the one hand to approach the public with a new appeal endorsed by the prime minister, and on the other hand to invoke the .crown prince's name in approaching suitable donors. At the end the required amount was obtained, but in August 1937 funds were still lacking. Ultimately some 200,000 persons donated 226,500 kronor.73
Neither did a number of other plans go forward as expected. Sweden's Allmänna Exportförening declined to take part in the celebration, preferring instead to concentrate on the World Exposition in New York in 1939. It was also necessary to drop plans for having the crown prince and crown princess arrive aboard the aircraft carrier Gotland since there was no suitable anchorage in the vicinity of Wilmington; not to neglect military participation entirely, the Mounted Lifeguards' choral society was sent. The registration period for the all-Swedish journey had to be prolonged when it had not attracted a sufficient number of interested persons, and the correspon­dence
that was planned between schoolchildren did not progress as had been expected.74
These reverses were countered, however, by the fact that much that had been planned was realized. Milles' monument was finished on time; nine volumes were published in the series New Sweden Tercentenary Publications. Besides a facsimile edition of Johan Campanius' catechism in the Algonquin language and a handbook about Sweden, these also included brief surveys of the culture, science, and society of modern Sweden. Appointments to the Swedish delegation were intended to be "in the highest possible manner representative of Sweden today." In addition to the crown prince and his consort, Prince Bertil and his entourage, and a large number of the working group of the Steering Committee, it consisted of two councilors of state, two parliamentary speakers, the chancellor of the university, a bishop, the national antiquarian, the national librarian, two directors general, and the chief of staff of the army, as well as a chief justice, an engineer, a landowner, and a factory worker in addition to representatives of folk movements (Good Templars, Methodists), Riksföreningen för svenskhetens bevarande i utlandet, etc. Governor Printz's descendants also were represented since the Steering Committee had expended great effort to devise a genealogy of the descendants and had mustered them to a meeting through notices in the newspapers. Altogether the delegation consisted of fifty-two persons in addition to representatives of the press.75
The Celebration Gets Under Way
The celebration of Nya Sverige had been under way a half year before the actual festivities took place. The visit of Governor George Earle of Pennsylvania to Sweden may be regarded as a kind of opening shot. It had been decided in Pennsylvania to erect a monument or to set up a marker in commemoration of the departure from Göteborg of Kalmar Nyckel and Fågel Grip. The visit took place in late November and early December 1937, and Earle dedicated two markers outside the Maritime Museum in Göteborg, on which occasion he conferred upon himself the title of "successor in the office of Johan Printz." He regarded the markers as the counterpart to the Mayflower monument, "Embarcation of the Pilgrim Fathers," in Southampton. Earle also visited Bottnaryd Church where his predecessor was buried (no grave, however, could be found), and met the king, and together with the crown prince participated in one of the meetings of the Steering Committee. The Pennsylvanians decided also to conduct an educational campaign in their schools as well as to designate 8 April, the anniversary (new style) of the landing of the Swedes, as "Forefathers' Day" and a general holiday.76 "The Swedish Tercentenary Art Exhibit" was the first major event arranged by the Swedes; it opened in New York in September 1937 and was displayed at various places in the United States up until July 1938.77 Finland for its part inaugurated the jubilee with the tour of the student chorus Ylioppilaskunnan Laulajat in the United States. When the chorus arrived in Washington, it was greeted by a number of senators and congressmen from states with significant Finnish populations; their speeches emphasized the payment of the debts and the part played by the Finnish pioneers. Following the reception the chorus, with Hook and Hurja as their guides, visited Congress. There they were received by Vice-President Garner, for whom they sang "Björneborgarnas marsch." When the chorus made its way to the gallery of the House, Hook launched into a lengthy speech in the course of which the promptly paid reparations were mentioned, and the chorus received a standing ovation. The following day Secretary of State Hull welcomed the leaders of the chorus along with Järnefelt and Hurja.78
Both Sweden and Finland also proceeded to inaugurate the celebration at home. The Steering Committee decided to commemo­rate
the landing day with a dinner in the Stockholm City Hall for 1,200 guests, among them the crown prince and princess and all the members of the parliament and city council. The crown prince made some introductory remarks, Dearing spoke, and Professor Helge Nelson from Lund gave the official address. The Stockholm lodge of the Vasa Order arranged a celebration in the Concert Hall with the prime minister as speaker, and Riksföreningen gave a party in Göteborg.79 The celebration in Finland was arranged by Suomi-Seura and was held in May in the assembly hall of the university in Helsinki in the presence of high government officials. The president and the foreign minister, who were to have given formal addresses, were both prevented from attending on account of illness. The welcoming speech was given by Engelberg, followed by formal addresses by the chairman of Suomi-Seura, Professor K. T. Jutila, and the author Richard Gothe from Sweden. All the speakers placed emphasis upon the part played by the Finns.80 Tug of War
The arrangements in both countries unfolded concurrently and in remarkably similar directions. Each country took careful note of what the other was planning and adjusted its own efforts accord­ingly.
After Congress had decided upon an invitation to Finland, Foreign Minister Henriksson stated that the problem would be to work Finnish participation in with the arrangements already made for the celebrations in the United States. He supposed that no major difficulties would arise in this regard in Sweden.81
Occasional friction could not be avoided. When Governor Earle visited Sweden an effort was also made in Finland to invite him there. The governor was prepared to fly over to Helsinki for lunch if the program that his Swedish hosts had arranged would permit this; the somewhat pointed Swedish response was that his schedule was already fixed.82
Ambassador Bostrom was especially determined that Finland would not outshine Sweden. When he heard that Finland was not only sending a delegation but also a choral group, he became determined to have a Swedish choir, for otherwise "the impression might easily be given that they had got the better of us at the ceremonies." When the Finnish delegation was reported to be in Washington, he hurried along the appearance of the Swedish delega­tion,
and when he learned that Finland intended to strike and distribute a medal he proposed that Sweden should do the same "since it would look strange if Finland but not Sweden were to issue a Delaware medal."83
Finland for its part was all the more determined to allow the tour of the Y. L. chorus to inaugurate the Delaware celebration inasmuch as the Swedish art exhibit had already opened. When the Finns got wind of the fact that the Swedes had sent commemorative stamps on first-day covers to prominent Americans, they immediately deter­mined
to do likewise in view of the great interest in philately taken in the United States and to call upon President Roosevelt, moreover, with a bound album of commemorative stamps. Hurja also hit on the idea of sending envelopes with the stamps and also President Kallio's signature to especially chosen prominent Americans. Roosevelt declared himself pleased with the gift, and its presentation to "America's number one philatelist" received the expected wide publicity.84
97 A sensitive matter was removed from the agenda without great difficulty. Finnish Americans considered the original suggestion of a Finnish monument placed in the old graveyard of the colony as unsuitable. They much preferred to raise a monument in Wilmington to "the unknown Finnish pioneer in America." Negotiations were undertaken with Delaware, but the tercentenary commission in Penn­sylvania
stated that "it would be a blunder to place your monument in The Rocks Park, Wilmington, in apparent competition with the Swedish monument" and suggested instead Chester, Pennsylvania.85
The ambassadors in Washington established direct contact with each other. Järnefelt proposed to Boström that Finland would take part in the unveiling of the Swedish monument only as a guest, "to do honor to that country with which it was united three hundred years ago." Since Järnefelt's attitude was "so considerate and understanding," Boström had put him in touch with Ward and suggested that an invitation be sent to Finland to be present as a guest—in other words, the very invitation that Delaware had refused to go along with during negotiations with Congress. Boström had also advised the Swedish Americans "for their part to avoid anything that might irritate the Finnish Americans and had said that we now must make the best of the situation." Järnefelt for his part had promised to advise the Finnish Americans to reach an accord with the Pennsylvania and Delaware commissions.86
Difficulties arose in an exchange of letters between Wuorinen and Solbert. Wuorinen had criticized, almost accused, the Swedish Americans of having omitted all mention of Finns in their publicity. Solbert replied in a letter that bore traces of the acrimony marking the differences that once existed between the two sides. He gave assurance of being prepared to cooperate but could not conceal that it was thought the Finns had inserted themselves and disturbed plans that had been underway since 1926:
We are only too happy to cooperate in any way we can but, as I said, it is a little embarrassing to us as guests of Delaware to know what to do when Congress invites someone else to a party that, in this case, the State of Delaware is giving. At the same time we are not unmindful of the fact that as the original bill is amended Finland is now on a co-equal basis with Sweden as far as the Congressional Resolution is concerned.87
If these diplomats were finding it difficult to repress their feelings, it was perhaps because at one time they had been fired up so energeti-cally. Even if no open conflicts took place, each side labored to advance its own group. Both established nationwide organizations and founded local Delaware committees in various places in the country. Nor were all reactions negative; Nordstjernan considered it gratifying that Finland had been invited; there was nothing to be gained with the academic argument that Finland had not been independent when Nya Sverige was founded:
Finns were a significant part of the first expeditions to Nya Sverige, and if Finland had been ignored in the tercentenary celebrations next year we would have had an unfortunate unpleasantness, a fly in the ointment, quite unnecessarily. The invitation to Finland was just and proper.88
The tug of war regarding the program and publicity nevertheless continued to the end, and Hurja, ruffled as always, conducted it like a political campaign. Probably his most adroit maneuver was to succeed in bringing about a change in the text on the American commemorative stamp, which had been proposed by Congressman Holmes. It had already been approved by the president and Postmaster Farley in a design that carried the words "Landing of the Swedes." Work on the stamp was already far along when Hurja, despite strong Swedish opposition, including a visit by Bostrom to the State Department, succeeded in having the text altered to: "Landing of the Swedes and Finns." The protocol section of the State Department had replied to Boström's protest that nothing could be done since the president had already approved the new design.89
In Hurja's view the program for the festivities called for careful consideration:
Our problem in the remaining days is to break down the idea that it is entirely a Swedish event, and we hope to be able to accomplish this by stressing the Chester, Pennsylvania end of the festivities. We are therefore planning to center our major effort on the monument program at Chester, and are foregoing taking part in many of the purely Swedish activities in Wilmington and in Philadelphia.90
Hurja also had ideas about how Finland could be given additional prominence in other ways. For example, Holsti might place a wreath at Benjamin Franklin's statue in Philadelphia and by so doing note that the latter had been Per Kalm's friend and advisor. Hurja T h e p o s t a g e s t a m p issued by the U n i t e d States in c o m m e m o r a t i o n
of t h e N e w S w e d e n T e r c e n t e n a r y , 1 9 3 8 .
succeeded in arranging a Finnish celebration at Finns Point without the presence of the Swedish delegation. The speakers were promi­nent,
and Hurja informed Holsti that he had done his best in arranging the main event for Finland, the unveiling of Aaltonen's monument:
The chief speaker aside from yourself, at Chester, will be Robert H. Jackson, of New York State, a native Pennsylvanian, and now Solicitor General of the U.S. I am responsible for his choice. We could not get Secretary of State Hull to make a second appearance, and rather than take an undersecretary from the same department, I felt it would be wiser to have some new blood. Mr. Jackson is a good personal friend of mine, and will make a sympathetic address. I am having lunch with him tomorrow to outline his talk. He will be "personal representative of the President" in our publicity."91
Small annoyances persisted to the end. The Agrarians in the Finnish delegation were angry when the boat that brought the delegation
ashore in Wilmington flew a Swedish flag instead of the promised Finnish one, but took comfort in the fact that Edström—the man who had barred Nurmi—proved to be entirely mistaken as to the
weather.92
The Nordic Perspective
Despite the friction and dissension, strong forces were at work to tone down the antagonism. Within the Swedish foreign ministry there was great determination to avoid any impression of acting in opposition to Finland, and whatever appeared in this regard in the Finnish press was carefully scrutinized. When the writer of the philately column in Helsingen Sanomat found occasion to take a jab at Sweden, the Swedish legation made a representation to Editor-in-Chief Erkko "that he might see to it that such was avoided in the future—for the good of the cause." It was also noted with satisfaction that in the delegation there would be a representative of the Finland-Swedish population as a sign that they wished "to demonstrate to Swedes in Sweden and in America that one is animated by a sincere desire to eliminate entirely nationalistic conflict in the present context."93 In a move unusual for the Swedish foreign ministry, the Swedish delegation in Helsinki was determined to emphasize community and sought via the foreign ministry to advance such a view in Sweden also:
Until now, it seems to me, the public in Sweden has scarcely been informed that this has to do with an historic memory held in common by Sweden and Finland, that a not insignifi­cant
number of the colonists came from Finland, and that Finland has been invited by the government of the United States to commemorate that memory in the company of the old motherland. It would without doubt make an especially good impression here if some papers would publish, for example, a lengthy article for the Sunday editions about "Finns and Finland-Swedes" in Nya Sverige or something on that order.94
The delegation also emphasized later on the importance of publicity "not least against the background of the antipathy toward Finland that continues still to be strong in certain quarters in Sweden."95
Among the Finns themselves it was especially Rafael Engelberg who exerted himself to give the celebration a sense of community. He was characterized by the Swedish delegation as "a Finn but extremely moderate in the language question and a lively activist for Nordic cooperation." The description was correct. Engelberg stood in strong opposition to, and was a target of, Finnish true-blue nationalism in consequence of the stand he took, for example, in the language controversy and in connection with the activities of Finns abroad. The delegation regarded Engelberg as representing "credit­able
opinion" when he declared that
from the point of view of Finland and particularly of Finns, there exists with respect to the Delaware celebration the deepest desire to avoid anything that might hint of rivalry or competition with Sweden for honor and glory. On the contrary, every effort is being exerted to emphasize both here and among our countrymen in America that this is a matter of a memory held in common and is a question of demonstrating to the American people that there exist in Europe two neigh­boring
nations that live in peace and harmony with each other.96
The good intentions of the Suomi-Seura leadership were especially apparent at the convocation in the university assembly hall in May 1938. In his speech of welcome Engelberg expressed his satisfaction that the celebrations were taking place side by side with Sweden; three hundred years earlier there had been the voyage together across the Atlantic; "now the delegations of our two free countries travel in concord and brotherhood once again over there to commemorate a pioneering enterprise." The chairman of the society, Professor Jutila, spoke of how the social ideals of the United States and the Nordic countries bound them together, and in a time of storm and stress these nations served as a bastion of democracy and freedom. Turning to the Swedish ambassador he recalled the common heritage of Finland and Sweden: "that past under the same royal scepter has now reawakened in the form of a close understanding between our two free countries under the sign of Scandia Major and the safe­guarding
of Nordic security. It is under this sign we meet during the commemoration, so rich with memory, of the Delaware colony." Both Engelberg and Jutila spoke in three languages, and the occasion was concluded with the national anthems of Finland, Sweden, and the United States.97 It was molded in this manner as a powerful manifes­tation
of democracy and strengthening of the Nordic alliance.
It turned out, moreover, that the delegations traveled together. The one from Finland had originally planned to travel via England, but Undersecretary Günther let it be known in Helsinki that it would T h e t u g of war over "Nya S v e r i g e " 1 9 3 8 . ( C o u r t e s y of the National Archives, H e l s i n k i .)
be regarded with much satisfaction if the delegation from Finland would travel together with the Swedes on the Kungsholm. Holsti, who had long been considering taking the Queen Mary, responded that he placed great value on the offer and that "it would make an especially good impression here and tend to muzzle the I.K.L., which tried to cast suspicions on Sweden's intentions with respect to the Delaware celebration." The American ambassador in Helsinki surmised that with this offer the Swedes wanted to keep the delegation from Finland from appearing to be "too sharply differenti­ated."
Among Finnish Americans the arrangement to travel together was seen as a big mistake, and the delegation was advised by telegraph to travel on a "neutral" line and in that way preserve its identity. With respect solely to giving Finland greater market exposure the Finnish Americans were probably right, but it was of the first importance to the supporters of Nordic cooperation that Finland be associated with Sweden, a point later emphasized by Holsti, Engelberg, Amos Andersson, and others.98
Whose Nya Sverige? The tug of war between Sweden and Finland regarding the Delaware celebration continued, but there were also other groups within the respective countries who wished to advance their views. Pennsylvania and New Jersey did not want to hear about a Delaware celebration but only of Nya Sverige. When the governor of Jön­köping
pleaded with Edström that Governor Earle be allowed to visit his residence, which stood in the same place where Printz had once been governor, he urged further: "Do not let it be forgotten that it was men from Småland who crossed over and created Nya Sverige!" The city of Eksjö wanted to link up its quincentenary with Nya Sverige on the basis of the large emigration from Småland. The Kölnische Volkzeitung joked about this "Swedish" celebration in the United States when it was well known that its originator, Peter Minuit, came from Wesel am Rhein and that a large number of the colonists were Germans from Pomerania, and in addition that Hans Kramer kept the colony's accounts in German."
Swedish Finns for their part were disposed to point out that by no means all "Finns" spoke Finnish, but that Printz had resided for ten years at Korsholm domain and a number of his colonists and soldiers probably had been recruited in Swedish Österbotten. Georg von Wendt stated that it could not be shown that any sizable contingent of colonists would have been Finnish woodsmen from Värmland and Savolaxians of the same sort; the major portion of the colonists who had their roots in Finland "were among the finest of our country's pioneering stock, that is, both Finnish- as well as Swedish-speaking Österbotten people."100
Before long, Swedish Finns in America also aroused themselves to promote their part in the enterprise. The complaint was made that Finnish Americans did not take into account the fact that most of the so-called Finns among the colonists were Swedish-speaking. The celebration was taking place accordingly at the expense of the Swedish component of the country, which had not at all been considered when the Finnish committee was formed: "At the same time that Finns might criticize mainland Swedes because they were not invited so might they themselves be criticized for having neglected to take into consideration the Swedish Finns in America."101
The Runeberg Order, the Swedish-Finnish organization in the United States, weighed the possibility at the end of 1937 of founding its own tercentenary committee, and a representative of the order described the dilemma of Swedish Finns in America:
A Finnish-American tercentenary committee already exists, but it has no contact with Swedish Finns settled in this country, while Finnish Finns garner all the honors in the meantime. They can scarcely turn to the Swedish-American national committee since it concerns in the first instance Swedes from mainland Sweden, while the committee for Swedish Finns is concerned with advancing its own group from the home country of Finland.102
Those who most energetically insisted on their share of the celebra­tion
were, however, Savolaxians, especially those born in Rautalampi, who labored to have their own representation at the festivities. The historical society of the parish decided in October 1937 that inasmuch as the greater portion of Finns from Värmland called Rautalampi their home, a stone tablet from the parish ought to be set up at a suitable location; it ought to include a text that referred to the contribution of the parishioners to the early colonization of Delaware. The society designated the Finnish consul general in Montreal, A. J. Jalkanen, a native of Rautalampi, as their representative with the mission of presenting the gift.103
The Rautalampi group was able only to donate the plinth for Aaltonen's monument and concentrated instead on their own festivities in July 1938. On that occasion they dedicated a splendid homestead museum from the parish, a stone building of two stories, and unveiled a 3.5 meter high Delaware monument in stone with a relief showing a frontiersman with axe in hand standing alongside a felled tree. The festivities, including a speech by Engelberg and a lecture by Gothe, were broadcast and continued for two days with about four thousand persons present. Three national anthems were also heard: the Savolaxian patriotic song "Savolaisten laulu," and those of the United States and Finland. Greetings were extended from government officials, Helsinki University, and a large array of national and local organizations.104
A certain bitterness over the fact that the official Finnish celebra­tion
was dominated by Tavastians and others who had nothing whatever to do with the matter also came into view in the observa­tion
by the Savolaxian Social Democratic parliamentarian and causeur "Sasu Punanen" (Yrjö Räisänen) that there was not a single Savolaxian to be found in the official delegation; with respect to the honorary degrees that were awarded to the leaders of the Finnish delegation he observed that while Savolaxians had cleared Delaware three hundred years ago for cultivation, they of course counted for little in the United States when honorary degrees were to be handed out: Many men, many tasks.105
What the Celebration Achieved
In this regard the celebrations that took place in the United States must be left to one side. They began with the unveiling of the Swedish monument in Wilmington on 27 June. The occasion was marred by the late arrival of the Kungsholm on account of fog, torrential rains, and the inability of the crown prince to attend on account of illness. Speeches were given by Prince Bertil and President Roosevelt, and Foreign Minister Holsti presented the Finnish commemorative Delaware medal in gold to the president. Finland's day came two days later, 29 June, at which time were unveiled the Aaltonen monument in Chester and a monument at Finns Point. The following days were crammed with festivities for both delegations, unveiling of monuments, banquets, and so on until the official program concluded on 2 July in Washington. Afterwards members of both of the delegations continued to travel in the United States, the Swedes to visit Swedish settlements, the Finns Finnish ones.
The representatives of both countries summed up their impres­sions
with evident satisfaction. Bostrom thought that the commemo­ration
in America had been "an event of the first order." The members of the royal house had received an enthusiastic reception from thousands of Swedish Americans and the press. Järnefelt was of the opinion that Finland also had received very good publicity: 74 million commemorative stamps had been distributed as had three thousand biographies, and a like number of newspapers had carried articles about Finland. Finland had enjoyed tremendous publicity. Both envoys took special note of the importance that Americans attached to ancestry and the significance that the celebrations had had in this regard. Bostrom, disposed even in his final report to omit mention of Finland, stated that it had become apparent to all of America "that Sweden was one of the three countries that founded its first thirteen states, that Swedes had made a large contribution to the development of the country, and that Swedish Americans contribute to it an important element of industriousness and of law and order." The Finnish view was that it was a question of four countries; Järnefelt stated in similar fashion how the Finnish pioneers' part in the creation of the first white colony at the mouth of the Delaware River had been praised in the speeches and how thousands of newspapers had written "about Finland, its integrity, and that Finns belonged to the group of countries that had founded this nation." Both envoys also called attention to the importance that the celebra­tions
had had for Swedish-American and Finnish-American self-esteem respectively, which had been strengthened both through the preparations for the celebration and the manner in which it had been observed. This aspect was noted on many occasions. The president of the Augustana Synod said that Swedes were now included in America's "pioneer aristocracy," Engelberg that Finns were acknowl­edged
as one of the founding nations.106
In Finland it was considered an honor to have participated on equal footing together with Sweden and the United States; Engelberg, moreover, considered this and especially President Roosevelt's remark about Finland, "small in size but mighty in honor," as a reaffirmation of Finland's independence.107
Even though the envoys were pleased and in most respects were in agreement, it will be useful in conclusion to take note of the differences in the two countries' conduct of the celebration, what image they sought to present of themselves, and what final impres­sion
was left. The Swedish preparations began nearly two years earlier, an advantage that Finland was never able to overtake. Swedish participation in the celebration thus was better organized, whereas the Finnish plans had only a short period in which to be formulated. Because of these basic differences the Swedes held the initiative the entire time so that the Finnish endeavor was for long chiefly a reaction to Swedish activities; this was most clearly apparent in the controversy regarding the issuance of the invitation. The Swedish Americans with Ambassador Bostrom in the background almost succeeded in blocking the invitation to Finland. Despite the brief time available to the Finns they accomplished a great deal though lacking anything to match the Swedish art exhibit and historical exhibition.
The Swedes also had an advantage from the start, for even if a large number of the colonists were of Finnish origin it was, as Bostrom insisted, an enterprise conducted under Swedish sovereignty; the name New Sweden itself provided the Swedes with advance publicity. When the press referred to Kalmar Nyckel as "the Swedish Mayflower," this also had the effect of placing modern Sweden in the consciousness of the public. Bostrom and the other Swedish diplomats were little concerned to distinguish between Sweden "then" and Sweden "now." The Finns for their part placed emphasis on the frontiersman and pioneer aspects, as was apparent also in the symbolism used in their monuments, medals, and postage stamps: nothing but somber, unkempt men at work clearing stubble. In a manner not wholly lacking of course in historic support, Finland and the Finns ended up looking as though they belonged to a lower order, denizens of the forests and byways. The Swedish celebration emphasized the part played by the Crown; the Finnish one was based on the part played by the people. It was symptomatic that Boström had wished to have a monument made to Gustav II Adolf and the Finnish Americans one to the unknown Finnish pioneer.
The Swedish Steering Committee for the celebration had several strings to its bow also. The contributions of Swedes as founders and pioneers in some of the original colonies were noted, but modern Sweden was also represented, a state with a highly developed industry, prominent universities, research and educational facilities, as well as a forward-looking social program in harmony with New Deal politics. In this regard it was possible to take advantage of the successful image created by Marquis Childs' Sweden: The Middle Way (1936).108 Over against this more sophisticated and modern impression Finland could really only present its reparations. The difference could also be seen with respect to the preparations and the delega­tions.
Even though the government played a leading role in the preparations made by both countries, the Swedish ones were given a broader, more people-oriented character, for example through the national campaign for funds and the very large delegation, whereas the Finnish delegation was more official in character and their monument was paid for by the state.
Furthermore, Sweden had access to a tremendous resource in its royalty. The crown prince's speeches, the honorary doctorate given him at Harvard, his dignified utterances on current affairs were balanced in a manner obviously made irresistible to the American press by Prince Bertil's youthful charm. One paper described him as "young, handsome, and single." He had a beer with journalists, let his fingerprints be taken in Chicago, and tried out fast cars at Henry Ford's factory. The American press was said to be "in hot pursuit after every little episode that can be interpreted as an indication of the prince's democratic temperament." The attention lavished on the royal personages was so great that the two prime ministers on their way home had "found it a bit odd that their American opposites had taken so little notice of the representative character of His Majesty's government." They acknowledged that the embassy had done its best for them, but their efforts "had been of little avail given the Americans' weakness for royalty and unwillingness to accommodate themselves to the rules of precedence."109
Three Democracies
On one point all three countries were of one mind. In a world where the danger of war was increasing and where authoritarian regimes were engaged in strengthening their positions, expression was given repeatedly to the common interest of the democracies in government by the people, in peace, and in respect for the rights of individuals and for international treaties. This was stated in many speeches and in the appearances of the leaders of the delegations, just as it was also by the American delegates and Secretary of State Hull. That this was not wholly free of controversy, at least not in Finland, was apparent in the reactions to Foreign Minister Holsti's speech at the unveiling of the monument in Chester. He took note of the fact that history is concerned not only with the struggle between nations, but also with the struggle with nature and tellingly drew from this observation both the pioneer qualities of the Finnish people and the ideals that bound together Finland and the United States:
The history of the Finns, which goes back more than a thou­sand
years, has been an especially hard struggle against nature—a struggle to conquer the soil, seldom fertile, usually only too barren. . . . Peoples and individuals who come in constant contact with the ever creative forces of nature are bound to become individualists and, so to you Americans as well as to us Finns, freedom as such becomes as precious a principle as the respect for justice in general. We democrats on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean do not want to live merely for the sake of existing.110
The phrase "we democrats" offended the I.K.L. paper Ajan Suunta, which thought that the minister should have had something better to say to the people of America than to make use of cheap phrases that had been repeatedly used by members of the People's Front and that were expressions of the self-righteousness with which socialist agitators attempted to influence the people. The catchy phrases were of the sort that the socialist officials of the Scandinavian countries had diligently cultivated and that had been turned into pure Marxist propaganda. Given the Americans' curiously limited turn of mind it was easy to understand that the phrase had had its effect, but this did not alter the fact that the minister had thereby weakened the nation's political standing and reputation in the world. This was by no means allowed to go unchallenged; several papers joined in the polemics and exclaimed that the fascists had revealed their intentions. The Social Democratic press of course made its opposition known; Reinhold Svento emphasized the significance of Finland's having joined the celebrations with Sweden and thereby having shown the United States that it belonged to the democratic group of nations in the North and followed the same principles as did the United States and the other democratic countries with respect to the desire for peace and regard for international treaties. In addition Suomen Sosialidemokraatti took advantage of the democratic notes struck in the crown prince's speech in Boston; he had spoken in praise of reforms, people's movements, and not least the workers' movement, whereas the reactionaries and the far right in Finland attacked the democratic system and greeted the aggressiveness of totalitarian states as salvation from Bolshevism.111
Historic Significance
Yet another characteristic held in common was the tremendous attention given to the celebration. In retrospect the excitement accorded the Delaware celebration seems somewhat astonishing, just as it did again in 1988. The events of 1638 scarcely deserved all the monuments, medals, postage stamps, publications and other things that had poured out over the celebration. The colony was an episode in both the foreign policy of the Swedish kingdom and the history of North America, and no real continuity is to be found between the small number of early colonists and the mass emigration that had its beginnings in the nineteenth century and that took place on entirely different premises.
Some commentators noted in the course of the general euphoria that the colony itself was quite insignificant and did not belong among the proudest moments of the Swedish kingdom. Its character as a symbol of other evaluations was evident in the candid statement of The American Swedish Monthly that "this tercentenary is itself of greater historical importance than the particular event which it recalls."112 Critical views were few. One voice with a sense of proportion was that of the historian Eirik Hornborg: An objective appraisal must conclude that "the Delaware commemoration" became extraordinarily over-publicized. But it is easy enough to see why: the celebration has been used as a point of departure for national publicity, a reminder of the existence of certain small countries which were among those that did their bit when the foundations were laid for "God's own country." This is obvious not least in the jealous fervor with which Finland elbowed its way to a position of equality alongside Sweden.
The Delaware commemoration takes on an almost grotesque appearance when the colonizing of Nya Sverige is compared with another colonization that is one of the most remarkable events in the history of the Swedish kingdom—and by the same token also in that of Finland—but that on one side of the border is disregarded on account of ignorance, on the other side on account of misdirected nationalism. I have in mind the Swedish colonization of Finland at the time of the Crusades. The United States of America would be what they are even if that renowned vessel Kalmar Nyckel had never sailed up the Delaware, but Northern Europe's history would have assumed quite another appearance if sainted King Erik, Birger Jarl, and Lord High Constable Torgils Knutsson had not conquered the eastern land in the name of the Swedish Crown and the Church of Rome and planted that land with Christian men, so that the Russian king was bereft of it. With that, the boundary of the western world shifted 300 miles eastward, and the foundation was laid for present-day Finland. In comparison, the colonization in Delaware plummets to insignificance, a mere episode, an ignominious speculation in tobacco.113
Translated by CARL L. ANDERSON
NOTES
1 Svenska Dagbladet, 2 July 1938; Uusi Suomi, 3 July 1938 (hereafter abbreviated SvD and US).
2 Dagens Nyheter, 20 July 1938, cited in Hufvudstadsbladet, 21 July 1938 (hereafter abbreviated DN and Hbl).
'Matti Klinge, Runebergs
tvä fosterland (Helsingfors, 1983), 7-30 and Studenter och idéer. Studentkåren vid Helsingfors universitet 1828-1960 IV (Helsingfors, 1979), 119-32,156-63; Kari Selén, "I all vänskap. En diskussion om Sveriges Ålandspolitik 1918," Historisk Tidskrift för Finland, 66 (1981), 248-69; Max Engman, "Konungen eller hakkapeliterna? Gustav
Adolfsminnet
i Finland
1932," Historisk Tidskrift för Finland, 75 (1990), 566-616. On 12 August 1932 the chauvinistic organization Aitosuomalainen suggested a boycott of ASEA because of the measures taken by Director Edström against Paavo Nurmi. 4 Cf. Eric Hobsbawn and Terence Ranger, eds., The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge,
5 Helge Almquist, "Kolonistmonumentet i Delaware — en sextioårig tanke," SvD, 8 April 1938.
6 Dag Blanck, "History at Work: The 1888 New Sweden Jubilee," Swedish-American Historical Quarterly, 39 (1988), 5-20.
7 Blanck, "History at Work," 6, and "Nya Sverige 350 år," Invandrare och minoriteter, (2/1989), 34-36; Fritz Henriksson, Med Sveriges kronprinspar genom Amerika (Stockholm, 1926), 60-79, 117-20. \
8 Sverige-Amerika Stiftelsen to Sandler, 22 January 1935, Boström to Sandler, 28 February 1935, Boström to Henriksson, 10 June 1936, Minutes of the Meeting to Organize a General Tercentenary Committee...February 23, 1935, Utrikesdepartementet, 1920 års Dossiersystem P, vol. 843, Riksarkivet, Stockholm (hereafter abbreviated UD 1920 P 843); American Swedish Monthly, (4/1935), 32, (6/1935), 37, (6/1938) 71, 132 (hereafter abbreviated ASM).
9 The Swedish Part in the Delaware Tercentenary," ASM, (4/1935), 4; Boström to Sandler, 28 February 1935, UD 1920 P 843.
10Henriksson's memorandum of 18 September 1936, UD 1920 P 843. " Bostrom to the foreign minister, 25 October 1935 and 8 March 1936, UD 1920 P 843. 12Congressional Record, 74th Congress, 2nd Session, House Joint Resolution 499, vol. 80:6, 6136-37, 80:8, 8434, 80:10, 9228; J. E. Brown to K. G. Westman, 27 July 1936, Westman to Brown, 7 September 1936, UD 1920 P 843; ASM, (4/1936) 36-37, (5/1936), 33, 37. 13 Boström to Henriksson, 25 October 1935, Henriksson to Boström, 31 March 1936, minutes of 20 May 1936, UD 1920 P 843.
"Henriksson
t
o Boström, 25 May 1936, UD 1920 P 843; Ny Tid, 15 May 1936; Svenska Morgonbladet, 15 May 1936.
15 Henriksson's memorandum of 20 August 1936 and announcement of 11 September 1936, UD 1920 P 843; the Steering Committee's minutes of 16 September 1936 (hereafter abbreviated SC min.); budget calculation of 2 December 1936, the Steering Committee's archive, 1, Riksarkivet, Stockholm (hereafter abbreviated SC arc, 1). On two subsequent occasions the membership of the Steering Committee was increased, see the documents auprotokoll, 13 April and 7 May 1937 (hereafter abbreviated auprot.), SC arc, 1.
16 For example, Göteborgs Handels och Sjöfartstidning, 12 November 1936; DN, 8 December 1936.
17 DN, 8 December 1936; Aftonbladet, 6 December 1936.
18 Boström to Henriksson, 10 June and 2 July 1936, Solbert to Boström, 4 August 1936, UD 1920 P 843.
19 SC min., 16 September 1936; auprot., 22 and 29 September 1936, SC arc, 1; cf. Eric Joannesson, "Blomsterkungen i republiken USA. Om Linnéstatyn i Chicago 1891," Svenska linnésällskapets årsskrift 1988-1989,101-14.
20 Stockholms-Tidningen, 11 May 1936 (hereafter abbreviated Sts-T); Hedin to Boström, 30 June 1936, Boström to Henriksson, 2 July 1936, Boström to Solbert, 12 November 1936, UD 1920 P 843; Boström to the foreign ministry, 17 December 1936, Henriksson to Boström, 3 February 1937, UD 1920 P 844; auprot, 14 and 21 October 1936, 27 January 1937, SC arc, 1.
1983). 21 Auprot, 12 November; 2,9,11 and 16 December 1936; 5 and 13 January 1937, SC arc, 1; Edstrom to Bostrom, 4 and 10 December 1936, UD 1920 P 844.
22 Sts-T, 20 and 29 November 1936.
23 Auprot., 7, 14, 21 and 28 October; 4 November and 2 December 1936, SC arc, 1; minutes of the provincial governors' conference, 10 November 1936, Edstrom to Bostrom, 12 November 1936, UD 1920 P 843; Allsvensk Samling, (1-2/1937), 11, 15 (hereafter abbreviated AS).
24 Henriksson's memorandum of 20 August 1936, Bostrom to the foreign ministry, 16 October 1936, UD 1920 P 843; von Post to Simonsson, UD 1920 P 844; auprot., 10 February 1937, SC arc, 1.
25 Boström to the foreign ministry, 18 June 1936, A. Johnson to Bostrom, 3 July 1936, the presentation to His Royal Majesty, 18 November 1936, UD 1920 P 843; the statement of the Swedish Mint, 3 December 1936, the statement of the National Bank, 17 December 1936, UD 1920 P 844; SC min., 11 November 1936, auprot., 22 September and 21 October 1936, 10 and 24 February 1937, SC arc, 1; SvD, 8 December 1936.
26 Minutes of 20 May 1936, Henriksson to Bostrom, 25 May 1936, UD 1920 P 843; auprot, 4 November 1936,13 January 1937, SC arc, 1.
27 Edström to Rodhe, 18 November 1936, UD 1920 P 843; auprot, 21 October, 25 November and 9 December 1936,20 January 1937, SC arc, 1; SvD, 9 October 1936; AS, (21/1936), 11.
28 F. W. Melvin to Boström, 10 February 1937, UD 1920 P 844; Nordstjernan, 10 September 1936; AS, (19-20/1936), 21.
29 Boström to the foreign ministry, 9 March 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
30 Henriksson's memoranda of 10 and 15 March 1936, UD 1920 P 844.
31 Act 31, supplement to Bostrom and the foreign minister, 16 October 1936, UD 1920 P 843; published in AS (7/1937), 7.
32 Edström to von Wendt, 29 January 1937, UD 1920 P 844; auprot, 27 January, 3 February 1937, SC arc, 1.
33 Melvin to Järnefelt, 25 September 1938 (copy), UM 66 C USA, Delaware, Utrikes¬ministeriets arkiv, Helsingfors.
34 Järnefelt to Viherjuuri, 18 March 1937 (copy), Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 16 November 1936, 8 February 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware.
35 New Yorkin Uutiset, 17 April 1937.
^Melvin G. Holli, "1938 Delaware Tercentenary: Establishing a Finnish Presence in the 300th Anniversary Celebration," in Finnish Identity in America, Turun Historiallinen Arkisto 46 (1990), 33-37. Concerning Ilmonen, see Raymond W. Wargelin, "Salomon Ilmonen: Early Finnish Historian," Siirtolaisuus-Migration, (3/1987), 3-11. Concerning Hurja, see among other sources Järnefelt to Holsti and Eljas Erkko, 2 November 1936, Finland's delegation in Washington, Fe:3, Utrikesministeriets arkiv, Helsingfors. On Cajander's position as honorary patron, see Hbl, 27 January 1938. "Hurja to Holsti, May 1938, cited by Holli, 41.
^Henriksson to von Heidenstam, 11 March 1937, Henriksson's memorandum of 15 March 1937, the foreign ministry to the delegation in Washington, 12 May 1937, UD 1920 P 844; Steinhardt to the State Department, 12 March 1937, State Department (hereafter abbreviated SD) Decimal file 811.415, Delaware River Valley Tercentenary, National Archives, Washington.
39 Boström to Günther, 30 March 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
40 Boström to Günther, 30 March 1937 and to the foreign ministry, 22 May 1937, UD 1920 P 844; Cuming to Dunn, 16 March 1937, SD 811.415; concerning Holmes, see AS, (5-6/1937). 11.
41 Valvoja (Calumet), 10 December 1935; Amerikan Suometar, 10 December 1935; Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:5, 5744. 42Järnefelt's reports of 3-13 February 1936, 6-17 April 1937 and 2-22 January 1938, UM 5 C 8; LaGuardia's salutation on 19 June 1937 (copy), Finland's delegation in Washington, Fbg:20.
•"Juhani
Aalste
, Heikki Aittola, Jukka Mauno, Suomen Joutsen (Helsinki, 1989), 7; Congressional Record, 76th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 84:9,10002; cf. Finland's delegation in Washington, Fa:16.
44 Procopé to Örne, 24 June 1937 (copy), UD 1920 P 844.
45 Örne to Procopé, 21 June 1937 and to Günther, 25 June 1937, Henriksson to Berencreutz, 25 August 1937, the same assurances are also in Beck-Friis to von Heidenstam, 19 July 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
"Boström
t
o Henriksson, 8 May 1937, UD 1920 P. 844. Boström thought that it would be useful "if the editors-in-chief involved would take a critical look at irresponsible statements such as these." Nils Ahnlund, "Nya Sverige," Ymer, 57 (1937), 259-71.
47 SvD, 5 May 1937.
48 Boström to the foreign ministry, 6 May 1937, the foreign ministry to the delegation in Washington, 14 August 1937, UD 1920 P 844. The Finns were advised that Boström had protested to both the State Department and certain congressmen, Hurja to Holsti, undated, Holsti 71, National Archives, Helsinki; Finland's delegation in Washington to the foreign ministry, 26 May 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware. "Memorandum, 11 August 1937, SD 811.415.
50 Wijkman to Boström, 10 August 1937, Solbert to Edström, 26 August 1937 (copy), UD 1920 P 844.
"Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:4, 27 April 1937, 3862.
52 Hurja to Holsti, undated, Holsti 71; Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 30 April and 26 May 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware. Christopher Ward was the author of The Dutch and the Swedes on the Delaware, 1609-64 (Philadelphia, 1930) and prior to the celebration published New Sweden on the Delaware (Philadelphia, 1938); he visited Sweden in connection with the preparations, see DN and SvD, 17 July 1937. Boström was highly complementary of Ward, see Boström to Edström, 30 March 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
53 Saari to Hull, 12 July 1937, previous letters, 22 June and 3 July 1937 and to McReynolds, 12 July 1937, SD 811.415.
54 Hull to Saari, 8 July 1937, Gray to SD, 3 August 1937, SD 811.415. a House Reports, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 3, Report No. 1391.
M Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:8, 21 August 1937, 9619.
57 Ibid., 9620.
58 Ibid., 9621-22. In a lengthy commentary that Hook attached to the official record of the House, he made direct parallels between the seventeenth-century Finns in Delaware and their counterparts in the 1930s: "Honesty, fair dealing, and hard work," Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:10, Appendix, 2448-49.
59 Congressional Record, 75th Congress, 1st Session, vol. 81:8, 9622. "Dearing to SD, 30 August 1937, SD 811.415.
61 In his letter of 10 September 1937, Edström assured Solbert that the Finnish foreign minister obviously would defer to the Swedish crown prince and walk behind him. The matter of which delegation would enter first at the ceremonial events was of great concern to Boström, who fretted over the circumstance that the Finnish foreign minister was participating in its delegation; thereby the Finnish delegation would enter first at the events not attended by the crown prince, see Bostrom to Sandler, 22 March 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
^Memorandum, 25 August 1937, Hull to Roosevelt, 25 August and 2 September 1937, SD 811.415.
"Schoenfeld to SD, 8 October 1937, SD 811.415.
64 Cumming to Wells, 18 October 1937, SD to the delegations in Stockholm and Helsinki, 10 September 1937, SD 811.415. "Memorandum, 13 October 1937, SD 811.415.
uHbl, 24 September and 7 October 1937, Ilta-Sanomat, 7 October 1937, Turun Sanomat,
28 November 1937, Ilkka, 6 February 1938; subsequently also in Helsingin Sanomat (hereafter abbreviated HeSa), 28 June 1938, US, 28 June 1938, and Nyland, 28 June 1938.
67 US, 28 June 1938. Concerning the debts, see HeSa, 7 October 1937, Ilta-Sanomat, 7 October 1937, and Ilkka, 6 February 1938. The congressional discussion was published in extenso in Suomen Silta (1937, hereafter abbreviated SS), 79-85 and in John H. Wuorinen, The Finns on the Delaware 1638-1655: An Essay in American Colonial History (New York, 1938).
68 Tarjanne to the foreign ministry, 9 March 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; Henriksson's memorandum of 10 March 1937, Henriksson to von Heidenstam, 11 March 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
m Memorandum, 21 January 1937, Suomen Ulkomaankävijäin Seura (Suomi-Seura), minutes of 18 April 1937, Soumi-Seura's archive (hereafter abbreviated S-SA), Helsinki; SS (1937), 10.
""Council of State's minutes of 3 September 1937, f 298, National Archives, Helsinki; Suomi-Seura to the Council of State, 13 October 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; Suomi-Seura, auprot., 7 September, 13 and 23 October 1937, S-SA. 71 Council of State's minutes of 4 November 1937, f 9-10,13 January 1938, f 167-68, and 20 January 1938, f 266-67. At one point it had been decided that Aaltonen would make a bust of Roosevelt, see Hurja to Holsti, 8 December 1937 and Hbl, 23 January 1938. "Council of State's minutes of 27 January 1938, f 447, Hurja to Holsti, 8 December
1937, Holsti to Järnefelt, 27 January 1938, Holsti 45. Besides Holsti only two other members of the Finnish delegation spoke English.
"Edström to the provincial governors, undated, UD 1920 P 844; SC min., 12 May 1937, auprot., 21 April, 5,12,19 and 26 May, 25 August 1937, SC arc, 1; AS (10/1938), 12.
74 Auprot., 24 March and 25 August 1937,12 January and 16 February 1938, SC arc, 1-2; memorandum, 9 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
75 Henriksson, Sveriges deltagande i Nya Sverige jubileet (Stockholm, 1939), 20; auprot., 2, 9 and 17 June, 8 December 1937, 9 January, 13 April 1938, SC arc, 1-2; AS (5-6/1938), 35,121.
76 Melvin to Boström, 10 February 1937 (copy), Bostrom to the foreign ministry, 9 October 1937, UD 1920 P 845; SC min., 2 December 1937, auprot, 16 February 1937, SC arc, 1-2; AS (5-6/1937), 8, (11-12/1937), 16, (23-24/1937), 5-6,9-11. Delaware observed
29 March 1938 (the anniversary of the landing according to the old style) as Swedish Colonial Day, see Bostrom to the foreign minister, 8 April 1939, UD 1920 P 845; ASM (4/1938), 24-25; Nordstjernan, 6 April 1939.
77 Henriksson, Sveriges deltagande i Nya Sverige jubileet, 47-55.
78Järnefelt's report of 1-18 January 1938, UM 5 C 8 and Finland's delegation in Washington, Fbc:8; Lännen Suometar, 28 January 1938, New York Times, 7 and 12 January
1938, New York Herald Tribune, 8 January 1938.
79 Auprot, 16 February and 16 March 1938, SC arc, 2; Laurin to Henriksson, 17 March 1938, UD 1920 P 845; AS (8/1938), 5, 11-12.
mHbl, 24 May 1938; von Heidenstam to the foreign minister, 31 May 1938, UD 1920 P 845. Gothe's speech and his radio address are in Holsti 71 and were published in SS (1938), 81-85, 151-59.
81 Henriksson to Berencreutz, 25 August 1937, UD 1920 P 844; auprot., 24 November 1937, SC arc, 2. According to Henriksson, the Steering Committee expressed its satisfaction in the mutual understanding that seemed attainable, see Henriksson to von Heidenstam, 30 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
82 Wuorinen to Holsti, 7 November 1937, Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 11 and 18 November 1937, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; Earle to A, Johnson with an assumed negative response to his letter, UD 1920 P 845.
83 Boström to Günther, 9 December 1937 and to the foreign ministry, 17 February and 12 March 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
81 Wuorinen to Holsti, 10 November 1937 and to Engelberg, 13 November 1937 (copy), von Numers to the foreign ministry, 16 May 1937, Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 17 October 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware.
85 Melvin to Järnefelt, 15 February 1938 (copy), Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 16 February and 3 May 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware. For information about the plans of the Finnish Americans for their monument, see Dahlman to Henriksson, 16 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
86 Boström to Günther, 4 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
87 Solbert to Wuorinen, 26 October 1937, Wuorinen to Hedin, undated (copy), UD 1920 P 845.
^Nordstjernan, 9 September 1937.
•"Woodward to Dunn, 2 May 1938, Dunn to Welles, 29 April 1938, SD 811.415. Dunn also called attention to the inappropriateness of Stanley Arthur's historical painting for the stamp, which showed an Indian chief making "the Hitler salute," Holli, 41-42.
90 Hurja to Holsti, undated, Holsti 71; Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 13 May 1938 and to Holsti, 17 May 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; Boström to Edström, 30 March 1937, UD 1920 P 844.
91 Hurja to Holsti, undated, Holsti 71. Solicitor General Jackson gave indeed a speech that fulfilled all expectations, in which he stated that the monument consisted "of Finnish granite as solid as Finnish integrity" and emphasized both countries' belief in democracy and their love of freedom; the speech is preserved in UM 66 C USA, Delaware. Hurja and Järnefelt worked until the last minute on making changes in the official Delaware program in order to pay sufficient regard to Finland, see Järnefelt to the foreign ministry, 25 May and 2 June 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware.
92Ilkka, 13,14 and 17 July 1938; SS (1938), 213.
93 Dahlman to Henriksson, 12 October and 16 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845.
94 Dahlman to Henriksson, 3 March 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
95 Dahlman to Thorsing, 13 April 1938. A brief article about the Finnish preparations for the Delaware jubilee, evidently inspired by the foreign ministry, was published in DN, 15 May 1938.
96 Dahlman to Henriksson, 16 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845. Von Heidenstam considered that it was thanks to Engelberg's "tact and abilities that the anything other than popular collaboration on this project has been accomplished completely without friction and quite simply become an opportunity for neighborliness," von Heidenstam to Boheman, 1 July 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
97 Report in Hbl, 24 May 1938; see also von Heidenstam to the foreign minister, 31 May 1938, UD 1920 P 845.
"Günther to von Heidenstam, 23 November 1937, von Heidenstam to Günther, 25 November 1937, UD 1920 P 845; Schoenfeldt to SD, 26 November 1937, SD 811.415; telegram to Holsti, 1 March 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware; HeSa, 15 and 17 July 1938, St-T, 17 July 1938, SS (1938), 137, 170.
99 Hamrin to Edström, undated copy, UD 1920 P 845; Kölnische Volkszeitung, 6 March 1938, AS (5-6/1938) 10, 97-98.
100 Hbl, 5 February 1937, a polemical reply to Kauppalehti.
101 Norden, cited in Vår Tid (9/1937).
102 Svenska Posten, cited in Nordstjernan, 2 December 1937.
103 Jalkanen to the foreign ministry, 20 November 1937, Rautalammin Historiallinen Yhdistys to the foreign ministry, 2 January 1938, together with minutes of 29 October 1937, Finland's delegation in Washington to the foreign ministry, 5 April 1938, UM 66 C USA, Delaware.
m Savon Sanomat, 5 July 1938, Pohjois-Savo, 5 July 1938, SS (1938), 160-162.
105 Suomen Sosialidemokraatti, 30 June 1938.
106 Boström to the foreign minister, 28 July 1938, UD 1920 P 845; Järnefelt's report of 11-12 July 1938, UM 5 C 8 and interview in Hbl, 26 July 1938; AS (5-6/1938), 8-10, SS (1938), 70,137,162.
107 SS, (1938), 137,213.
108 Cf. Merle Curti, "Sweden in the American Social Mind of the 1930s," in J. J. Dowie and J. T. Tredway, eds., The Immigration of Ideas: Studies in the North Atlantic Community. Essays Presented to O. Fritiof Ander (Rock Island, Illinois, 1968), 159-84. ""Boheman to Boström, 9 August 1938; Boström defended himself by saying that the embassy had done its best, but that the hosts had simply done what they wanted to, Boström to Boheman, 22 August 1938, UD 1920 P 845; Henriksson, Sveriges deltagande i Nya Sverige jubileet, 113-15,144,146,148. The attention paid to the royal personages was so great that it also was noted in the Finnish press, for example, HeSa, 7 and 15 July 1938, likka, 14 July 1938 and Karjala, 16 July 1938. On 16 July 1938 Ajan Suunta commented ironically as to how the "democratic" or, to put it more accurately, Marxist-directed Sweden celebrated royalty and then stated: "Plutocratic America can probably classify the democracies according to their value. First the crown, then the collar [yoke]."
""The speech has been preserved in Holsti 71. Cf. SS (1983), 71, AS (8/1938), 71, ASM (7/1938), 10.
111 Ajan Suunta, 2 July 1938, Turun Sanomat, 3 July 1938, Suomen Sosialidemokraatti, 7 and 15 July 1938.
mASM (7/1938), 4, Wilhelm Lundström in AS (5-6/1938), 2 and (8/1938), 5, Anders
Örne
i
n AS (5-6/1938), 7 and Holger Wikström in Vår Tid (5/1938).
'"Eirik Hornborg, "Ett jubileum och en jämförelse," Nya Argus (1938), 186-87.